The oldest digital native you know.
I would class my Dad as a digital native. Despite being born over 40 years too early to fit Prensky’s view of digital nativism, he possesses many qualities which I believe allow him to fit the category: He usually owns new Technologies before I do, works from home on the computer, has a better mobile phone than I, and spends hours a day on the internet doing daily tasks like working, banking, emailing and reading online.
Although Prensky’s theory might initially suggest that he is a digital immigrant and probably still retains some ‘accent’ which proves he didn’t grow up surrounded by such digital technologies, he also points out that people’s brains can actually change throughout their lifetime as a result of the stimulation they receive. Therefore I would argue that as a keen, regular and competent user of up to date technologies since the digital revolution, my Dad may be classed as a digital native, despite his age.
Prensky, M (2001) “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Do they reall think differently?” On The Horizon. 9 (6) http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf [accessed 17/03/09]
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Your dad still had to adjust to these technologies-so is he really a native? and do you think someone can ever use their "accent"?
ReplyDeleteyeah, my argument is that through using technology so much (and for a lot longer than I have) that he doesn't have an accent. If you read Prensky's article i link in another blog he talks about the brain's neuroplasticity and that this remains through life depending on the stimulation the brain recieves, which is the reason i think that a person can learn these skills at any time in life and not necesarily retain an accent. My Dad has used the technologies since they've been around and dedicates hours a day to using them. I think his understanding and the way his brain works is now that of a native, not an immigrant with an accent.
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