According to Megan O'Neil, http://chronicle.com/article/Confronting-the-Myth-of-the/145949/, digital citizenship is more about responsible citizenship and multi-tech-variancy than it is about the simple assumption that everyone born after 1980 has been steeped in technology to such a degree that they are the supposed "digital natives."
My spidey sense has been going off for years as I have heard others declare the digital native generation, but I never really figured it out until the other day. How presumptuous it is for people to tout this as truth when every other technological advancement simply led to a variety of tech usage and understanding--how many of us understand the intricate steps necessary to tan leather, let alone print a book, but we all have worn leather shoes and (hopefully) read a printed book.
Consider the following metaphor: How many of you have owned five or more cars? Ten? (my hand went down) Fifteen? More?
How many of you have changed a flat tire? (I see those hands) A windshield wiper? An air filter? Oil filter? Spark plug? Oxygen sensor? Head gasket? Piston ring?
You see where this is headed--we have all ridden in a car and yet the inner workings and ability to modify, build, and repair are lost on most people. Utilization of a technology does not necessitate a real understanding of its workings, or even the ability to use it well for both intended and creative purposes.
While we lost rich cultural traditions and history with the eradication and dissolution of the "natives" of previous centuries, there is no such wealth in these new natives. The truth of our new natives is that they lack the skills and knowledge that they need to be successful in the new global community--their quirks should not be celebrated and the metaphor does not hold.
My point is that those of us in education stand in a place where we are obligated to assist our students in utilizing technology for significant purposes. The assumption that the digital natives are responsible to utilize technology for these purposes is erroneous. We must step in as the mediators between the complexity of the task and the student's ability as we seek to bring them into the new world.
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