Fact or Fiction: Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants

I myself have taken note of the fact that there is a whole generation of people coming of age that have never known a time before cell phones and Facebook. For myself, being on the cusp of this generation (born in the late 80's), I was glad to have grown up without a cellphone and to have only a very basic internet, having been free of the social media that is so pervasive today.

It seems obvious that this leap in technology between generations has left some people in the digital-dust, but does that mean that the new generation has innate abilities older generations could never have developed? Even though that might seem like a reach, one has to admit that the general experience the younger generations are getting is vastly different than those who came before. But, does that mean they fundamentally carry out cognitive tasks differently? That is the argument put forth by Marc Prensky. Since the early 2000's when he coined the term "digital natives" and "digital immigrants," those who follow this thinking have been pushing for a fundamental change to education. A change that would seek to cater learning to multi-taskers and digital immersion that matches the younger generation's alleged superior ability to use, navigate and learn with digital tools. The problem with these observations by Prensky is that he offers little data to back up the claims, and there are many studies that concur that multi-tasking is actually harmful and so called digital natives are no more digitally literate than their older counterparts.

In a 2017 paper titled The Myths of the Digital Native and Multi-tasker, Paul Kirschner takes on Prensky's claims. He discusses several of Prensky's ideas and provides data from a multitude of studies to challenge the idea that education should be reformed around multitasking and assuming that younger adults and children will forever going forward be digitally literate as a product of their environment. Kirschner instead claims that the digital natives are no more digitally literate than the so called digital immigrants. The idea here is that even though the younger generation may be able to use Facebook and Instagram doesn't mean that they are proficient in using digital devices properly to learn or find information. They may not how to properly search the web or how to communicate professionally online. In fact, research has shown that younger students are no more technologically savvy than their older "immigrant" teachers (Kirschner, 2017). It turns out teachers and students use the same technologies and both have to learn how to use them constructively and, in  actuality, it seems that more of the digital natives use the devices and software to consume content rather than create it (Kirschner, 2017). 

Another myth addressed by Kirschner was the notion that the digital natives could multi-task; that they could perform multiple tasks simultaneously. This based off of the observation by Prensky that younger people using technology seem to be doing multiple things at one time. For instance, perhaps while studying a young student also has music on with a chat window open in an online game while also posting to Instagram, etc. Unfortunately, our brains don't really work this way. The term multi-tasking was coined to describe two or more computer processes happening at the same time. In reality, this is only possible with multiple processors. 

Yes, even computers can only process one thing at a time per "brain." Our brains are very similar, each task is carried out individually, one at a time, functioning as a singular processor. What Prensky was actually observing is more akin to task switching. This is where the "digital natives" are able to go back and forth from several different tasks while remembering what they were doing, except these task executions can only be carried out in succession, one at a time. Kirschner argues that the data shows that multi-tasking reduces the ability to focus and filter out information from irrelevant tasks, ultimately weakening the ability to switch between tasks. Because of this, the distractions media multi-taskers take on also interferes with their ability to remember what they are trying to learn (Kirschner, 2017). Even beyond measurable behavior data and lower GPA scores for multi-taskers, it was also determined in fMRI scans that heavy media multitaskers had less dense grey matter in their anterior cingulate cortex, the area of the brain that controls executive function (Kirschner, 2017). 

(Anterior Cingulate Cortex)

Especially considering the harm multitasking and heavy media use has on brain development, I would hope that any fundamental changes to education and approaches to teaching and learning will be based off of real evidence and peer reviewed results and conclusions. Personally, I feel as though Prensky means well. He observed a massive change in culture and rightfully saw how it might change people. 

The problem may be assuming that others using and understanding what you missed doesn't mean they have some innate ability you don't have. The whole idea smacks of someone being left behind and bewildered by the tech advances of the turn of the century and trying to rationalize why they couldn't keep up (or as the meme-generation would put it: "boomers" making problems they then blame on those affected by it). Then, when it becomes apparent that GPAs are falling, the problem is assumed to be the traditional teaching style instead of the technology and its use? After all, the people creating these new technologies weren't children, they were the so-called digital immigrants themselves. The digital immigrants were the original targeted consumers, had they not perpetuated and profited of off the technology, we wouldn't be drowning in it today. 

Although I agree culture is changing in the digital age, I would have to agree with Kirschner and the multitudes of studies that say multitasking is harmful and that immersion in technology is no guarantee for tech-literacy.