The future of digital natives

I wanted to make my tenth post some sort of conclusive wrap-up about all the technology talk I've encountered this summer session in my Electronic Resources for Youth class. Technology and its use with young people in the classroom is exciting and I'm curious to see where it goes, how it shapes learning over the next 10, 20, and 50 years, and what role I'll play as a librarian in the midst of this evolution.

After learning about digital natives and what defines them, I'm not sure I can say that I am 100% immersed in that generation, even though I was born after 1980. Yes, I want to consider myself tech-savvy but it's because I took the time to learn it in my adult years. I don't think access to multi-media actually changed the way I consume and process information as much as it has the younger crowd (kids who are in K-12 today as opposed to in the 80s and 90s like I was). I don't know - maybe it has. But I don't like to think that subsequent generations will only become less literate with shorter attention spans than the previous one. I like to think that future generations will discover, have access to, and create more positive opportunities that previous generations never even thought about.

Twitter Fail

A guy in Bristol, England ran into a tree while using Twitter via his Blackberry and jogging at the same time. He's 23 years old which definitely makes him a Digital Native, however, it seems he hasn't quite mastered that generation's population's skill of media multi-tasking.

Do you think he was Tweeting, "Hey I'm jogging right now!"? Probably. John Palfrey mentioned in his presentation at Google D.C. Talks that something defining about digital natives is that they really have no problem sharing information frequently about themselves on the Internet - on blogs, on social networking sites, podcasts, message boards, Twitter, etc. Personally, I never really feel the need to let the infinite abyss that is the World Wide Web know when I'm doing something really mundane (or am I doing that now?). Something about this generation, they really love telling everyone when they're doing anything.

When I was a teenager, people didn't really have cell phones (except for Zack Morris) and it's kind of a relief to know that my mom couldn't find out where I was 24/7. However, today's teens are available to chat, talk, text and tweet no matter where they are. Just keep your eyes on the road when you're in motion, mmkay?