Understanding+Digital+Children+Report

Understanding Digital Children By Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj pp.1-11

This article describes how the Digital Natives (DNs) are fundamentally different from previous generations. They have grown up in a new digital landscape always having technology at their fingertips. Their brains have been wired differently because of the instantaneous nature of the Internet. Because of the digital bombardment of information, DNs are able to multi task better than any other generation. They access, absorb, interpret, and process information differently. Digital Natives interact and communicate differently as well. Their interactions with others are online and not face-to-face.

Digital Immigrants grew up in a very different time. Most families lived with two parents of which only one parent, usually the father, worked outside of the home. Lives were simpler, very scheduled, and moved more slowly. Technology consisted of radios and one television in the home. Listening to or viewing these was done as a family unit gathering around the TV or radio listening and talking about a broadcast. Information was limited and slow. People had patience and waited to hear about events.

Digital Natives have internalized digital media. They expect to see and hear about world events as they occur. They witness history in the making. They don’t have the patience to wait. They feel they should have instantaneous access to information! They are comfortable with the bombardment of simultaneous images, text, and sound thus leading to the ability to take in all that information at once and process it. Because of this, multi-tasking is second nature. This is a global generation where borders, culture, race, and even socio-economic situations don’t create a barrier. Digital is their first language.