Marc Prensky Digital Natives Analysis

Youth’s reliance on the digital world may do some harm, but its benefits outweigh any drawbacks. Information is now readily available and much easier to access. Writers like Nicholas Carr of the Atlantic magazine speaks of the Web as a “godsend,” capable of reducing research from long days of gathering and shifting through physical resources to mere minutes searching online (Source 4). Technology not only make learning easier but also more personal. According to a 2008 study on the effects of digital media, the large library of information provided online “lowers barriers to self-directed learning” (Source 3). The current generation with some simple Google searches has the ability to indulge in their curiosity, free from traditional limitation in learning. Because of this, the young are developing new interests and skills to go along with

Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (or, Don’t Trust Anyone under 30). New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2008. Print.

Through the internet and the change in learning this group is more self motivated to learn from each other versus just from the classroom. They also learn a lot more on their own. This expands “new forms of expression and rules of social behavior” (Source B). Consequently, the internet is more creativity and sense of self. As well as that “what makes these groups unique is that while adults participate, they are not automatically the resident experts by virtue of their age ” (Source C). Proving that Millennials surpass adults in the aspect of technology understanding and knowledge. Overall, the 30 and under generation are more self directed and creative in their learning prior than older

Essay Many Americans today are extremely familiar with the term “technologies and digital media,” and how they are not helping young Americans with education and general knowledge, which led to the generalization that they are the dumbest generation (Mark Bauerlein). However, according to the articles, The Dumbest Generation?Don’t Be Dumb by Sharon Begley, Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicholas Carr, and Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, Mizuko Ito et al., the authors all came up with one generalization that technologies and media are helping the young generation in their learning and they are instead, not the dumbest generation. The claim that those under age thirty are “the dumbest generation.”

In this article, Prensky starts by stating obvious differences between this generation, and the ones that precede it. Today, "Digital Natives" or another popular term "Millennials" lives are proof of the impact of technology. They watch more TV, play more video games, and have mastered the art of multitasking constantly being surrounded by gizmos and gadgets. The author describes

For the last couple of years’ technology has augmented our everyday life. Alex Williams, a reporter for the New York Times and an editor of the New York Magazine, would strongly agree with this. Williams believes technology has changed the way we live, and the way we interact with each other. Schools are loaning iPads, tablets, and laptops to students so they can immerse their self’s in a world of cyber learning. Teenagers are drooling over their cell phones for hours upon hours, ready to text back the boy in their Algebra class. Parents are preoccupying their little kids with games on their phones. Nevertheless, this is making life easier and simpler. Alex Williams hypothecates that technology might actually have “beneficial [attributes]

Distinctions between “digital immigrants” and “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001a; Prensky, 2001b) have been frequently referenced over the past decade. Much has been written about digital native students as a part of the Net generation (Tapscott, 1998; Tapscott, 2008) or as Millennials (Howe & Strauss, 2000), which generally includes learners “born in the 1980s and later” (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005, p. 1.2). However, little work fully considers the impact of digital immigrant discourse as it appears within the field of adult learning and continuing education. Indeed, such discussion seems increasingly necessary given the growing body of recent evidence calling into question such popular, binary notions characterizing youth as ubiquitously tech

To demand a new way of teaching and learning involving technology. (Thomas, 2011, p. 4) These popular claims within the seminal literature on digital natives (for example, that digital natives possess a sophisticated set of ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] knowledge and skills or that they have different learning styles or preferences) are largely unsupported by research evidence (Bennett, Maton, & Kirvan, 2008, p. 777). However, using these claims, enthusiasts’ present digital natives as a part of a utopian vision of technology tied to an exoticized picture of liberated young people (Buckingham, 2011). Despite slight distinctions, the terms digital native, the Net generation, and Millennials are used interchangeably (Jones et al., 2010, p. 723). Digital immigrants are characterized as individuals born before 1980 who knew an analogueonly world and still rely on analogue forms of interaction. For digital immigrants, the communication changes happening via the introduction of digital technologies are supposedly learned and relearned, instead of easily becoming second nature (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008, p. 4). Problems are often identified not with the digital natives but rather with older generations of non-natives who display their “digital immigrant accent” (Prensky, 2001a, p. 3) when using new technologies. In this way, digital immigrants are portrayed as being tied to older media, unable to catch up (Buckingham, 2011), therefore embodying the antithesis

The Millennials: This generation grew up in an era with many technological advances, along with the creation of new social networking sites; therefore,

The current generation of children is completely different than the preceding ones. They are living in the digital age. “Technology has blended in with daily activity to become a way of life and children today take for granted all of which is automated. It is hard for kids nowadays to imagine a world that existed without all of the gadgets, electronics and seamless operations that computer technology provides.” (3) “Children in the United States devote some 40 hours a week to television, video games and the Internet.” (12) Many psychologists and researchers are concerned about the impact that technology has on children. Children, tomorrow’s future parents and leaders, are being consumed by the negative effects that technology had on their

Today’s technology has greatly impacted the young children’s everyday lives. Phones, tablets, and computers are all a form of technology that impact the way kids are influenced. Some children get phones or computers at young ages and it can cause kids to depend on it to entertain them. Eventually they will allow the technology to take over and have it become the form of communication between friend and family instead of face to face. As parents continue to buy their children new technology they don’t monitor the amount of time their children spend on the Internet. Technology is becoming more advanced overtime which causes children to become more attached and unable to function without it near by.

The film “ Digital Nation” is an exploration of diverse people's views on digital media, in today's world. Some of the most important topics were on the virtual world, and the pros and cons of technology within different groups like gamers, students, families, teachers, administrators, children, military and businesses, as well as the experience of general people. In the movie, Prof. Sherry Turkle said, “Technology challenges us to assert our human values. Technology is not good or bad, is powerful, and it is complicated which means first we have to figure out what they are”. Currently, technology has taken over, wherever one, goes one will find it. Over the past years, social media in particular have spread worldwide; from Facebook to Instagram. There is constantly something new, extra advanced and creative. Overall, the technology has evolved the way humans interact with each other. In particular, technology influences by motivating students towards learning, saving time, building literacy and communication skills.

In today’s world it is a requirement to be digitally literate in order to be able to function in a capacity that enables one to be more successful whether it is at home, school, at our jobs or even looking for a job. Over the last few decades our environment has evolved into a digital environment. Being or becoming digitally literate is essential in being successful in this digital environment. Almost everything we do today requires some sort of digital knowledge or literacy. From surfing the internet to searching for a job to being able to perform our jobs, we are required to have some sort of digital

Technology has been involved in people’s lives forever, especially in the Millennial Generation. This generation consists of individuals born between the years of 1982-2004. The articles “The Flight From Conversation,” “Teens and Technology 2013,” and “Leading The Charge For Change” deals with teens interacting with technology today.Each article has different topics, but they connect through the over dependence of teens to technology. The Millennial Generation becomes less and less in touch with the real world and morphs into a quasi-reality.

The new generation of students entering and already enrolled in university are members of a digital age- growing up surrounded by many forms of digital technology as they are the first generation of youth to have internet technology easily available at their disposal. This current generation have already been labelled by sociologist as “‘digital natives’ (Prensky 2001a) and the ‘net generation’ (Tapscott 1998)” (Prensky 2001a; Tapscott 1998 as cited in Murphy 2010). Technology is not something new to these students as its presence in their life have made them quite comfortable to the idea, as they perceive “technology as a way of life and express a need to feel connected at all times” (Russo et al. 2014). Although what is new are the