It suggests that while material access to technology has increased, young people from more advantaged backgrounds spend their time online doing activities that develop more comprehensive and beneficial skills. The continuation of these patterns was captured in the 2015 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection. And a 2008 study in the United States of 18- to 26-year-olds found that those with higher levels of education undertook online activities that were more self-enhancing. These affect their opportunities for education, work, and social connection.Ī 2007 study in the United Kingdom of 1,500 9- to 19-year-olds, for example, found that higher-income households had better quality of access, allowing more frequent use – which allowed them to develop greater confidence and proficiency with technology. Older people can and do become skilled and confident using the same technologies.Įven more importantly, within the younger generation, socio-economic factors were found to play a major role in the opportunities young people have to develop technology skills and knowledge. Also, comparisons between generations have not provided evidence that younger people have an inherent advantage. They are, in fact, very diverse in the ways they use and think about digital technology. The results from this extensive and careful work have repeatedly pointed to the same conclusion – that young people are not as easily categorized as the ‘digital native’ label suggests. Detailed, smaller-scale studies to observe technology use were also carried out in school and higher-education classrooms, homes and community settings. Researchers conducted large-scale surveys asking about what devices young people had access to, what apps and platforms they used, and how often. From the mid-2000s, studies were done around the world to look at how young people used technology for their education and in their everyday lives. But the idea soon began to attract the attention of researchers who were keen to investigate whether the claims stacked up. The problem was that much of this early commentary was based on observations and anecdotes, with little hard evidence to back up these claims. As a consequence, a radical change would be needed to ensure that old-fashioned ideas and institutions did not limit the capacities of these young generations. It was claimed that young people could multitask more easily, had shorter attention spans, preferred visuals and interactivity, and liked using technology more. They have also been referred to as the ‘net generation’ and ‘smartphone generation’, seeking to capture the same central idea that younger generations are fundamentally different because of their exposure to technology. The idea of young people being ‘digital natives’ – a term coined by education consultant and author Marc Prensky – first became popular twenty years ago. Head of School, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, and at the School of Education, University of Woolongong, Australia, with an expertise in information and communication technologies in education. The ability of the younger generation to master new digital tools depends very much on their socio-economic backgrounds and family environment. Beyond the cliché, however, the reality is much more complex. It is easy to believe that young people, born in the digital age, would naturally be better equipped with the necessary skills to use new technologies.
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