I have to say I agree to an extent with Prensky. His argument that learners can be catagorised into 2 main groups, digital natives and digital immigrants is possible in some respects however I do think a majority of people where technology effects their lives have grown and moved with technology as much as the digital natives.
Last night I was witness to a 2.5 year old playing on his dads iphone. He knew how to turn it on, he knew how to open the applications he was allowed to touch and he knew exactly how to use them. I don't think this child will grow up reading instruction manuals. I think it shows a real hands on no fear approach to technology and maybe this is where we differ from digital natives. I do still have hestiation using technologies for the first time whereas a child would probably jump right in and follow their instincts to figure it out. If they get it wrong there is always the 'undo' button.
That is a scary thought in itself. One experience I share with alot of other graphic designers is when we make mistakes in life, for example doing something wrong on the road in our car, we automatically in our head say apple+z. How scary is that! We are so used to doing things on a computer and always being able to undo and go back that our immediate reaction to making a mistake in life is to hit apple+z. Digital Immigrants would never think like this.
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