Week 9- Question 1: Digital Immigration

Week 9- Question 1: Digital Immigration What is 'Digital Immigration'? Who cares about it? What sort of general attitudes have been based upon it?

Digital Immigration marks the shift in technology from Analogue to Digital. Those who have grown up with digital technology are regarded as Digital Natives and those who grew up with Analogue and have had to adapt to Digital are known as Digital Immigrants. An example of a Digital Native and a Digital Immigrant can be seen in the case of Student and Teacher, Teachers are regarded as Digital Immigrants as they have not grown up in the digital era and the student is a native because they have and have an automatic knowledge of digital that older generations might find harder to grasp because their "brains are wired differently"( Timothy Vanslyke http://www.wisc.edu/depd/html/TSarticles/Digital%20Natives.htm).

The differences between these two terms can even be related to the way in which they act a digital immigrant is more likely to take the time to read an instruction manual where as a native is more likely to assume they can do it without a manual. I think what is interesting about the terms digital 'immigrant' and 'native' coined by Marc Prensky, is that in todays society we feel the need to put a name on everything. The use of immigrant and native is claimed to "help us understand who is comfortable with with technology and those who are not". Is it really necessarily to drive a wedge between two generations, by naming them.

From the website articles I have focused on it appears that older generations and teachers/ lecturers are most interested with this digital divide. Marc Prensky, who has published a number of articles about digital learning, and as I mentioned earlier infact devised the concept of digital natives and digital immigrants presents the idea that digital natives do not need to be taught about technology because they are already programmed to know the latest technology and adapt very quickly(Marc Prensky- http://www.twitchspeed.com/site/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.htm)
"Our students today are all "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet."
Is this a fair assumption that because we have grown up in the digital age that we no longer even need to be taught about new technologies?

It is inevitable if a generation grow up with new technology that they will adapt quickly to the rapid ever changing technology, where as generations that have not been exposed/ grown up with such technologies will find this more challenging to adapt to because their brains will work differently. For instance my parents are what would be defined as Digital Immigrants, they both can use email however this took a while to learn. My mum still cannot grasp the use of a mobile phone,no matter how many times I have shown her and this is not because she is unintelligent but to her it is a new technology it is something new to learn and frankly she doesn't seem to have time for new technology. I do not believe this is the case in all digital immigrants however, I think we are uick to judge older people as not being up to date with technology however I know many older people who use ipods, mobile phones the internet to buy things etc. I think in order to make sense of things we must define people into groups to make things understandable. Who knows when I am am older I will most likely be regarded as a digital immigrant because technology will have shifted rapidly and the next generation will have a better understanding of what is 'new'