Boyd vs Prensky: Digital Native

 At the end of chapter 7: Literacy are today’s youth digital natives? The author Danah Boyd ended with saying “Learning is a lifelong process”. I believe that we are always learning and growing every day. There is always an opportunity to learn something new and gain more knowledge of. I believe this is what Boyd is trying to argue about digital natives and the youth. In Prensky’s case he argued that the youth is automatically in tune with technology, they are born into the definition of digital native. However, that is not the case for every youth.

My thoughts on these arguments can intervene both ways. Boyd brings up compelling arguments and examples throughout this chapter. In the beginning of the chapter, they state, “Technology is constantly reworking social and information systems, but teens will not become critical contributors to this ecosystem simply because they were born in an age when these technologies were pervasive.” (p177) I have worked with different grade levels, recently working with high school students. Students now all have access to laptops for school. Now everything is digital, students have an easier time to access answers on the internet. However, this does not mean they are “tech savvy”.

When it comes to using different platforms, students still struggle with utilizing this technology. Now when it comes to using social media platforms, I believe they are digital natives, due to using this daily and growing up around it. An example I would like to use is a personal example, my cousin created an Instagram for my niece when she was a baby, now my niece is 14 years old and is using that Instagram. She taught my niece how to use this platform to communicate with family and friends. She is a pro, and she teaches me how to use it and the algorithm of the platform.

In this example this would be a Prensky view, my niece had a tablet when she was one years old where she had the ability to watch Youtube videos as she got older began to teach herself the different ways on to use the tablet; play games, take pictures, take videos etc.

I believe the term “digital native” creates this division between society and age. This is also an outdated term. After reading this chapter, I created my own thoughts of this term. I remember growing up I had a notebook and a textbook to learn and do assignments. My millennial friends can relate the only way we were tech savvy was when using Myspace HTML to change backgrounds. I believe Boyd uses that example to show how the learning of technology changes. Technology is always changing and that is why we are always learning. Yes, now this generation and upcoming generation is born into the technology and social media world, but this does not show that they will be successful in using it.

Here is the link to chapter 7: file:///C:/Users/milar/Downloads/Kami%20Export%20-%20ItsComplicated.pdf