The Digital Native Divide
Comments: 8 - Date: January 4th, 2008 - Categories: Creativity, Learning, Opportunities, Participation Gap
When we talk about Digital Natives, are we just talking about privileged kids with access to technology? Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of an upcoming book on Google, thinks so:
Invoking generations invariably demands an exclusive focus on people of wealth and means, because they get to express their preferences (for music, clothes, electronics, etc.) in ways that are easy to count. It always excludes immigrants, not to mention those born beyond the borders of the United States. And it excludes anyone on the margins of mainstream consumer or cultural behavior.
In the case of the “digital generation,” the class, ethnic, and geographic biases could not be more obvious.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to this. In a recent talk at Berkman, sociologist Eszter Hargittai discussed her finding that “the only statistically significant predictor of engaging in creative activities at all is parental education.” And communication researcher John McMurria has observed that “a glance at the top 100 rated, viewed and discussed videos, and most subscribed channels [on YouTube] reveals far less racial diversity than broadcast network television.”
“It’s not just about access to the technology,” Henry Jenkins explained at the Totally Wired forum. “It’s access to defining skills and experiences. This is the new hidden curriculum.”
Unlike Vaidhyanathan, however, I see this as no reason to throw out the Digital Native metaphor. To the contrary. Unlike Baby Boomers or Generation X, Digital Natives are growing up now. When we use the term, we not only describe the past, but also look ahead to a future we can still change.
So let’s keep using the term, but as an aspiration as well as a description. Rather than pretend all kids are Digital Natives, let’s make that our goal. Because if we don’t act, the problems could get even worse. At her Berkman talk, Hargittai said she’s concerned unequal opportunities will become a vicious cycle:
I do think it’s going to create a greater divide, because I do think that for those who have the opportunities and have the skills, there really is so much out there. … It’s the people who don’t have the education, who don’t have the networks to figure it out, who aren’t going to be benefiting.
So how do we avoid this? I see hope in projects like One Laptop Per Child. Although that program is specifically aimed at the 3rd world, it points to the possibility of making laptops and wireless internet affordable to everyone, bypassing the time limits, crippled access, and dated technology too often found on the public computers at libraries and schools. Connecting to my last post, I’m also excited about the ideas coming from Katie Salen and her cohorts in the “edutainment” field.
These are just the first thoughts that come to mind. What do you think? How can we confront the problem of unequal access? And do you think the term “Digital Native” helps or hurts the cause? Comment away!
-Jesse Baer
Comment by Anonymous - January 4, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Hi Jesse.
Just to expand a clarify a bit: My problem is not just with the fact that policies and studies focusing on something called “digital natives” exhibit a bias toward the privileged and make the underprivileged invisible (when dealing with education and democracy this is a sin!).
My larger problem is that there is no such thing as a generation. None. There is no sociological or statistical definition of a generation. There are no core or defining traits that exist beyond the colloquial.
The idea of “baby boomers” makes no sense beyond the pure demographic fact that there were a lot of people born between (select arbitrary start date and arbitrary end date). That’s all it means. This country — let alone this world — is too diverse to distill any shared or core experiences from that long a period (generally defined as 1946 to 1964).
“Generation X” and “The Greatest Generation” are just book titles. And they are not even good books!
If you don’t believe me, ask President McGovern how much generations share.
Comment by Ben Greenberg - January 5, 2008 @ 12:17 am
But maybe we should also expand where we look for the natives. I do suspect that low income teens, African American and Latino teens, teens who are undocumented immigrants–widely use cell phones and txt messaging and are probably also producing photos and video with their phones (content producers) and share said content via their phones and perhaps other means (social media). We can use “Digital Natives” to refer to a select set of digitally mediated experiences that we think are most important and interesting, or maybe we can think more broadly.
Comment by minh - January 5, 2008 @ 7:42 am
If we drop the age limit completely & identify digital natives by ……………..
mmmm willingness to experiment with technology
ahhh interest in communicating
interest in being communicated with
is a recognition for the need for social activism a criteria?
ecological sophistication?
a well developed sense of the difference between opinion & information?
……………………………..?
waddaya gunna say ?- no you aren’t a digital native because you’re (insert cut off age)
Comment by Shane - January 5, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Is there anything to this tired critique other than the usual sociological nitpicking that terms like “generation” aren’t 100% predictive? I keep asking, keep hearing no compelling answer from S.V., apart from the same p.c. orthodoxy he spreads across every blog that says anything about “digital natives.”
All I know is that there are more fifteen year olds who are internet savvy than sixty year-olds. That’s what people mean when they use the term “generation” in this context, a usage that is so obviously sensible that burden of proof fall squarely on the shoulders of people making grandiose pronouncements about how the term is imaginary.
But maybe if S.V. keeps repeating himself often enough his fantasy will become reality.
Comment by David Brake - January 8, 2008 @ 7:01 am
Henry points out that being a digital native (in the developed world) is likely to be about “access to defining skills and experiences” more than physical access. I would add “access to a school and/or home environment that is supportive of creative uses of digital technology”. Before you can get the skills and then gain the experiences you have to have the aspirations…
Jesse I am puzzled that having quoted people who see it’s not about access to tech per se you then suggest the OLPC as a possible solution which is all about access!
Comment by Den digitala revolutionen » Blog Archive » Digitala infödingar och digitala immigranter som lever digitala liv - January 8, 2008 @ 10:27 am
[…] Vem behöver anpassa sig? Hur kommer arbetsplaserna att se ut när dessa populationer möts? Jesse Baer belyser några av de frågeställningar kopplat till digitala klyftorna. Han refererar även till följande […]
Comment by ICTconsequences » Blog Archive » Digital Natives and eHealth - January 10, 2008 @ 9:25 am
[…] The importance of analyze the supply and the demand side, in this case digital natives as a heavy Internet users (demand) and the Internet as a tool to reach this audience, taking into account the possible digital divide. […]
Comment by Technology and Generalizations of the Generations « Practicum Blog - January 19, 2008 @ 6:07 pm
[…] like Jesse from the Digital Natives blog believe the native/immigrant terminology can be used to identify and to address the […]