Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants: Is There a Liaison Generation?

 

Truthfully while I more than likely fall more into the digital immigrant category, I do think that there is some of the digital native category to me. I spent my younger years, probably until I was about 12 or 13 years old without internet, without a cell phone, and without a computer. I didn’t have cable TV in my room, but I did have a small TV with a VCR, and a clock radio. So, I did get to spend some time learning as most digital immigrants did. However, my teen years were the years where having a computer and internet were more common. I may be dating myself, but I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was a senior in high school. It didn’t have internet, I couldn’t text anyone, and it only had 50 prepaid minutes that my parents allowed me to use for emergencies only. I didn’t have those things, but I did get to grow up with video games. Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, etc. So, I do rely on technology a lot, as I still love to play video games, and yes, I use my computer and cell phone often. But if the internet is out for an hour, I don’t freak out about it, I can make do. I still like to open an actual book and read. I still prefer to handwrite notes in class because I commit things to memory better this way, and I write in cursive most of the time.

My son is definitely another story. He is ten years old and has ADHD. There are so many times that I have to tell him that he can’t watch a movie on one screen, play a game on another, and watch YouTube on yet another screen. He always talks about how boring reading is and getting him to do his homework is a task. But I can get him into virtual classes on Outschool.com for Minecraft and Among Us. What he doesn’t know is that by joining in these online classes, he’s actually gaining social skills.

My mother often tells me how I should be doing things when it comes to parenting. But what I explained to her, which is what made Prenksy’s articles so interesting is that my son is growing up in a completely different time and generation than either of us, or that another approach needs to be taken. I explained to her that the things that worked for me as a child will not work for him. This doesn’t mean that I let him run rampant or that I don’t make sure he hold’s up to his responsibilities such as homework and cleaning his room. But I try to approach with a different level of understanding and try to bridge the generational gap. And I have made my peace with the fact that my son has ADHD, and I am sure that tons of kids his age do as well, and that technology has a very large part to play in this. All I can do is be supportive and help him learn how to manage it. Do I regret my ex-husband buying him his first tablet by age five? Yes, I do. I wish he could have gone a little longer without technology, but I’m not truly sure if that would have made a difference this day in age.

I think the fact that I kind of linger in a sort of in-between level of these generations kind of gives me an advantage. Granted it won’t last long since it seems like every day technology is advancing faster than I can keep up. But I was born in 1984, which in Kirschner’s article seems to be the exact year that the divide between digital native and digital immigrant was made. Granted a huge difference in that time is if your parents actually had the money for a lot of those electronics. My parents had enough for all of us to share video game systems. However, in that time, video games were more common for boys, so it was always my two older brothers getting to play video games, and I was the one sneaking in there rooms when they weren’t home and playing when I could. 

All of this being said, I do also understand where Kirschner is coming from. I don’t necessarily think that digital natives know more than their parents do, but I don’t agree that digital natives aren’t a real concept. I think that their approach to learning is just different than the approach of a digital immigrant. These days, kids want to maximize their ‘free time’ where they get to watch TV and play video games, I mean free time is kind of what everyone wants more of, but kids don’t want to take 5 minutes let a lone an hour to do a task that isn’t interesting to them. So, yes, by all means a different approach, yes to learning video games. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to learn the same types of things we had to learn growing up. Truth be told, I think I spend more time trying to convince my son that books are interesting and a necessary part of life and development. I’ll keep trying to find new ways. Any ideas are completely welcome!

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