Reading Prensky’s article ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’, got me thinking about where I stand when it comes to technology and what kind of impact I, as a future educator, want to have on my students and what am I willing to do to get there?

In his article Prensky talks about Digital Natives, children born into the digital world and who have spent their entire lives surrounded by the new technology e.g. computers, videogames, digital music players etc.  Growing up in this environment has consequently led them to, as scientists suggest, think and process information differently to the rest of us.

I, on the other hand, consider myself to be what Prensky calls a ‘Digital Immigrant’, being introduced to technology at a later age. I agree with the statement that as much as they try to adapt, immigrants always have that ‘accent’ that pulls them back from advancing and also makes them stand out from the ‘Natives’.  

Considering that the ‘Natives’ have changed their learning patterns, being that they are constantly surrounded by technology, it is crucial that teachers, before educating students, educate themselves about technology in order to meet their students’ needs on this new level. As Prensky says “Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language”. This worries me because as much as I try to learn about technology, as soon as I feel ‘comfortable’ there is something new on the market and I feel that I will always be stuck on the border. Will I ever be able to keep up?   

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–2. Available:  (NB. can do ‘natives’ test here: http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/digitalnatives/index.htm )

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 I watched the video ‘Concern over Teen Internet Habits’, which talks about dangers of the new social networking trend, after the double suicide of two Melbourne girls who publically announced their intentions on the internet prior to their deaths.  I definitely agree with the concerns raised over teen internet habits, the amount of time they spend on the net and what they actually get up to. Considering that nowadays internet is available to everyone, any disturbed person can open up a page and can potentially lure teens who are in search of friends or as John Schwarz puts it,  “a soul mate…who may not understand the universality or finality of death”. Some of the examples that he refers to are websites that glorify death, suicide and anorexia lifestyle. A friend of mine had a similar experience where she received a ‘request for friendship’ on Facebook and when she accepted, she was shocked to find disturbing pornographic and death promoting images. Being an adult she was able to think rationally and report this particular page, but would a young and depressed teen be able to do the same or    would they fall into the trap?   

To make things worse a lot of parents are unable to monitor what they children get up to on the net, since everything can be set to private where only invited members can enter and view the contents. Are teens spending too much time online that is potentially disconnecting them from reality without even realising it? Relating to the example given in the video of a girl that has 300 friends online and checks her profile and email multiple times a day, I personally know a girl who spends hours checking her mail and chatting on line, but when it comes to talking face-to-face to these ‘friends’, all they say to each other is hello and bye.

Even though the above mentioned example is an extreme, I don’t see cutting out the internet use at home as a solution, since it can be accessed at school, in an internet cafe or at a friend’s house. I believe that by doing so, parents would be distancing their children from themselves and pushing them into doing things behind their back. Instead, parents should try to educate themselves more about current technology which can offer them more understanding of this trend.

ABC (2007). Concern Over Teen Internet Habits. The 7.30 Report. (From 2nd May, 2007)

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While reading Manuela’s posting on Multitasking, I couldn’t help but think of my little sister, who at the age of only 10 happens to be a ‘technology freak’ who manages to talk on the phone, play Nintendo DS, and at the same time try to do her Maths homework. As Manuela says, even though multitasking seems to be a positive thing, being that they can do and finish all those things, we don’t even realise how much children actually isolate themselves, not only from others but from their own thoughts. I’ve noticed this with my sister who more and more prefers cyberspace world and her games to going to the park to play with her friends.  Being that technology has become the new fashion it’s become a number one priority to parents in making sure that their children don’t feel left out, and my parents are no different. This leads to Manuela’s conclusion that even though parents are responsible for making sure their kids log off the computer as well as keep an eye on them while on the internet, I believe it is important to remember that most parents grew up in a culture, with different values, that they don’t even realise the dangers of feeding this obsession with technology.