Tutorial 9: Written task

The literature by Marc Prensky, Emerging online life of the digital native, is a very true representation of what the digital world means to the younger generation now than it does to the older generation. This was an interesting read because it clearly defined what have become the social workings of the “Digital Natives” (Prensky, ) as a norm and acceptable form of communication.

The connection of the facts in this paper are valid to my experiences with New Communication technologies and the Digital world, where it’s involvement in my life has become a daily activity that makes up some of biggest communication with my social network of friends and information gathering. My use of my mobile phone is a good example where, I can access anything on the net, chat with friends, visit Facebook, search for recipes, find maps, look for restaurants close by, play games, make sounds, and check my e-mail; the lists go on. Anything I need to do on a daily basis, I am able to do with my phone including written assignments for University. All at the tip of my fingers without leaving my home for instance. However, obviously in terms of thorough academic research, more access to other resources not available on my phone is needed. This is where, for me, the Digital world has its limits in that not everything you find on the net is a reliable source. Sometimes referring to hard copies of books and journals in the library are the best sources of information. Although according to Prensky’s literature, this fact can be counteracted by dedicated Digital Natives, therefore proving that my age group might be out of that bracket.


Kids quickly realised that “lookism,” that seldom-talked-about but insidious social divider, doesn’t exist at all on the web... (Prensky, 2004). This is a very much realised statement that many Internet users can connect with. On the Internet and our dealings with it we are able to become who we want to become, and the physical dimensions of ourselves are no longer considered. You are able to become who ever you want to become and possibly express yourself more accurately because of that. An example of this it the use of an avatar in a 3D world where you are able to create an image of yourself however you wish to portray yourself. Second Life is the best example of people taking on a new identity through the Internet and are therefore becoming people that they are not in the real world.


Dave Weinberger, author of A New World, takes the angle of social identity on the net from a different angle in that we become different people through the use of the Internet because of the things we do when using it. He refers to searching for products on eBay, bidding on them and coming back to the computer hours later to check on your bid as “returning to a story that was in progress, waiting for me whenever I wanted” (Weinberger, 2002). We are able to continue our “lives” at our own pace with the use of New Technologies because they are there when we need them, and are only useful to use at our demand. This is unlike our personal lives sans New Technologies, like shopping for groceries, where we are unable to complete half the shopping, leave the half filled trolley in the isle and return back to it the next day and expect it to still be there just where we left it. What we can do in the real world is limited in time to what we can do in the digital world. I shop online and find that I prefer doing so for certain things and I know that this is something that I wouldn’t do in the real world, in a retail store in a shopping centre. There is a freedom one has being active in the digital world that one would not have in the real world. A true and exciting, but also sad, reality of New Technologies and the way we use them to communicate and define who we are.

References:

Prensky, M. (2004). Emerging online life of the digital native. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf

Weinberger, D. (2002). A New World. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from http://www.smallpieces.com/content/chapter1.html