Being A Digital Native

 I am a digital native! Before this weeks lesson, I didn't even know that digital natives and digital immigrants were a thing, but it makes sense that there would be a divide between those who grew up surrounded by technology, and those who didn't. 

I can think of a couple scenarios off the top of my head where it really is present that I'm a digital native, while my parents are digital immigrants. 

1) Whenever we order pizza delivery (or any take out that has to be ordered online versus over the phone) I'm in charge! My parents will ask me to pull open my phone and order a pizza for them, even when I'm hundreds of miles away at college. 

2) I'm in charge of the Amazon account. This one is a little silly. Even though my parents have access to the Amazon account, whenever they want to order something, they'll tell me what it is and I'll order it for them.

3) I always set up the new technology around the house. The Alexa, the new phones, logging onto the streaming sites on the TV, etc. I normally do for them.

Now, I'm not sure if this is purely because they're digital immigrants, or if it's because they never bothered to learn how to do these things and it was just easier to have me do it, or a bit of both. However, my parents have become a lot more tech savvy in the past few years. My mom loves scrolling through her Facebook Reels and even posting some, and my dad will even download games onto his phone to play (he's loving Block Blast right now #NotSponsored). I'm proud of them for embracing the world of technology, and I'm sure it can be a difficult thing to do when you didn't grow up with technology surrounding you, or even grow up in the United States.

I also love a point that was made in the Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants article written by Marc Prensky. I think embracing this new age of digital natives in schools is super important, and finding ways to teach material to digital natives is important as well. I think one of my most memorable times in my AP Government class was when we were learning about political parties and what it was like to run for President. Our teacher had presented us with a video game she had found where you create your own character, choose your own party, and go through the steps of running for office. It was so memorable and fun and made that class so enjoyable. To this day, that was probably one of my more fun lessons I was taught in high school! While embracing technology can be hard, it is also important. 

- Lydia



Link to article: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

Link to game: https://ed.icivics.org/games/win-white-house


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Instagram and RSS

This week, I explored the tools of the week a little bit more.  First, I started with Instagram. Instagram is an app that I am very familiar with. It was my first social media account I ever made back in middle school, and is still an app I use almost on the daily. This weeks tool exploration didn't take me long at all. I already had an Instagram account that I had used for a previous class in my undergrad that I was no longer using. All I had to do was delete the posts, change my username, follow the class account, and I was good! I was even able to participate in this weeks mini challenge where I posted a picture to represent how I was feeling with the hashtag #eme6414. One new thing I learned about Instagram though, was how to delete multiple posts at once. I didn't want to take the time to have to individually delete each post, especially with there previously being over a hundred posts on the account. You can do this by going to your settings, clicking your activity, click...
Read more

Taylor's Version

 If you haven't heard yet, Taylor Swift officially owns all of her music! Wooohooo! Personally, I would say I'm a Swiftie. Now, I don't own merch or keep updated with 24/7 of her life, or know about all the easter eggs she has, but I still am a fan of her music and I'll watch the occasional Tik Tok that pops up about her on my feed.  Earlier this week, I decided that for our community assignment (the experience one), I was going to join two Taylor Swift communities. I had never interacted with any of them before, and I knew it was a community that would always be active and have lots of posts for me to look at and participate in. I chose to join the Taylor Swift subreddit, as well as two Taylor Swift Facebook groups as my two social media based communities. Crazily enough, Taylor Swift announced today that she officially owns her music now, after a looooooong battle to get them. With this announcement, both communities have gone off the wall CRAZY excited for her! The c...
Read more

Social Networking

 I feel as if I created my LinkedIn pretty late to the game. I didn't create an account until the end of my senior year of college. I remember feeling so behind as I saw all my friends LinkedIn accounts with 500+ connections and all their posts and achievements laid out. I honestly found it anxiety inducing at first, having to connect with my peers and even asking to connect with with people I hadn't spoken to since high school. But, I knew it was important to build up my online social network.  As a psychology major, I never knew how important having a social network was. It wasn't until the second semester of my senior year where I was focusing on a minor in business, that I understood its importance. Having a social network isn't just about how many connections appear on your LinkedIn, but it's also about building connections and a good rapport with others. It's about having a group of people who understand your line of work and can offer you support on it. I...
Read more