Week 9 tasks

A, the oldest digital native I know is possibly my Dad. He has always been in and around new technologies and has grown up with the changing times and the changing machines. Each time he has mastered them and is now fluent in almost all forms of current technology. As I have said in earlier blogs a native could be defined by our curiosity to learn about new technologies, not necessarily how we have grown up in and around them. In this case my Granddad has shown lots of curiosity and is attempting to learn how to use his laptop so surely this makes him somewhat a digital native?

 

B, The youngest digital immigrant would technically have to be someone who has just been born. As technically, a native is someone who has grown up with technology or shows an interest in technology. A newborn baby has done none of these, so is still technically an immigrant. They will eventually after a few years become a digital native as they grow into the digital world around them.

 

C, I think the education system could be the biggest threat to the digital native/immigrant theory. If the educators do not realise that digital natives are learning in different ways to what that of immigrants are then the whole digital native community could fall. If the education system does not gather speed and conform to the way that children and teenagers learn, digital nativism could change, or at least slow down. This could create huge drawbacks for the future of our economy. We have now established ourselves as a technological culture and if the education system does not establish itself as one also, we could end up at a stand still, and allow other countries to leap ahead of us in technologic terms. This could be a catastrophe for us as a nation, as it could lead to things such as alliances not being formed with other countries because of the inability to protect ourselves from digital warfare and other things almost as extreme as these. The digital natives of this day and age are vital to the future of this country as they will be the ones pushing the boundaries and making things possible for the next generations.