Digital Immigrants vs. Digital Natives: Are We Really That Different?

Two readings from this week offer contrasting viewpoints on the idea of digital immigrants and digital natives. Digital natives are those who grew up with technology while digital immigrants are those individuals who were not born into the digital world, remembering a life before computers, the internet, and social media. While Prensky (2001) argues that digital immigrants and digital natives are inherently different, Kirschner and De Bruyckere (2017) argue that the groups are not so different. The former touts that our entire education system needs to be reformed to meet the needs of these digital native students, while the latter contests that the overhaul is not entirely necessary as many of our understandings of these groups may be mere myths.

I appreciate the insight from the authors and it led me to think about my own experience as a digital consumer and educator. Although I did have a computer growing up and access to the internet, I didn’t have a smartphone until my adulthood and social media was far from the beast it is today. As such, neither digital immigrant nor digital native seems like an accurate title to assume. When thinking about the digital native vs. digital immigrant debate, I feel similarly caught between our two authors. I feel like if you can remember a time without such technologies, you of course have a different perspective than someone who has only ever known a digital world. Although I agree that doesn’t necessarily mean that educators should overhaul what they expect of students, I do think to simply act as if their perspective isn’t different is short-sighted. As we continue to advance in technology with artificial intelligence, we would be better served to begin modifying how and what we teach to this next generation of students now. By acting as if nothing has changed in the last 30 years and that our educational practices should also not change, we limit that which we can teach our students and that which they can accomplish as society progresses.

-SMT