My thoughts on Digital Immigrants

   "Reconsidering digital Immigrants?" To be honest, when I first read the title I was really confused as to what the article was about and where it was going, but nevertheless I dove into the Jenkins' article. I was only a couple of sentences into the article when the phrase "digital natives" appeared. I felt completely out of the loop in regards to these terms. After reading Mark Prensky's description of the concepts, it was clear for me to distinguish that there was a difference between my generation which he described as "digital natives" and my parents' generation who could be considered "digital immigrants". As I read Presnky's concept of a "digital immigrant accent" I laughed a little, but it was intriguing nonetheless. However intriguing it was, I do agree with Jenkins' statement that they "are some pretty out of date assumptions about immigrants" and the potential dangers of highlighting these stereotypes "in the midst of a national debate about immigration."

   I couldn't agree more with Jenkins' when he stated that "we should recognize what digital immigrants bring with them from the old world...is still valuable in the new", instead of emphasizing their shortcomings. I do believe that one of the dangers that is brought about through our use of Prensky's concept is the the false/dangerous notion that "young people are better off" without the guidance from previous generous generations. Maybe I have an old man's soul in a young man's body, but I do believe that our future lies in not repeating mistakes from the past, and if society adopts this...well, I guess we're already living it to an extent.

   Reading Jenkin's blog was food for thought in the sense that it got me thinking about how often my mom would call me when I first set up her desktop computer just to help her turn it off, go online, log in to her email, etc. It felt as if I had to explain everything to her dozens of times, when for me it was second nature. As time has gone by, she has gotten better (she still doesn't know how to use a scanner) but she has actually given me some advice that I think is very pertinent to our youth today and yet the youth doesn't listen. She told me "don't post pictures or comments that you wouldn't want your future boss or your loved ones to see", yet I could think of countless of pictures that some of my friends have posted that I know would get them questioned by their parents and employers.

   Discretion is a skill that is lost among "digital natives" and it is something "digital immigrants" could and should teach us. It might be just personal opinion, but I truly do believe people have forgotten what truly is important and worth sharing.  Tweeting to the world "I just had the coldest, most delicious pepsi" vs. tweeting "I just had a baby". Now this is a drastic example, but "digital natives" regurgitate their whole lives online, without any discretion and we are witnessing the negative consequences "cyber bullying, leaked nude cellphone camera shots, no privacy, and much more." I do believe that there is a lot to be learned from previous generations to enhance the achievements that are possible with these new tools.