According to the Oxford Dictionaries a digital native is a “person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age”, so by definition the answer is yes. However, what does it look like to be a digital native?
As someone who is probably, although I’m not sure I want the title, a digital native, technology and it’s rapid advancements are not something I am afraid of or uncomfortable with. I have no struggle picking up new software and playing around with it, social media is verging on an addiction and I cannot remember a time without a Personal Computer in my house, although I do remember the beautiful tunes that came with dial-up internet.
Now, whether or not I am a digital native matters little, but the traits do show that I have grown up different to my parents or even peopel 10 years older than me, where learning the ‘digital language’ is much slower but can be more thorough and deep. What I mean is this; for the large part, because I have grown up with digital technologies, I take them for granted, as I imagine lots of people my age and younger do. We are great at picking up the newest app, but rarely do we have a deep understanding of how they work.
This is where old people, or perhaps to be gracious to their position, the ‘digital immigrants’ have an advantage. These people made the technology I take for granted. They know how to code, and build and make these things I love. They didn’t grow up with them as I have, but instead have created a generation of people who are natives to their creations.
I think the number of digital natives who understand technology as much as the immigrant generation has to catch up and overtake, and this will happen. However, soon there will be a new generation of ‘digital natives’ with both Virtual and Augmented reality becoming widely available and I’ll be the old person being slow to catch up with the cool kids. And those days will be great and filled with even crazier technologies than a iPhone without a 3.5mm earphone jack.
References used:
Digital Natives. (2016). OxfordDictionaries. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/digital-native
iPhone 7 c sería el modelo básico junto iPhone 7 y 7 Plus. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/iphonedigital/23461331922
