Introduction to the Life of Digital Natives

Narratives

Elizabeth wakes up on an ordinary Winter morning in 2007. Before she even thinks of breakfast or a shower, she punches the “on” button of her Apple laptop as she wipes the sleep out of her eyes. It boots, hitting the wireless network that invisibly blankets her house. A moment later, she’s automatically logged on to four separate instant messaging networks at once.

As soon as the icons in Yahoo! Instant Messenger light up, a small blue square on the laptop starts to flash. A pop-up box with “yo yo yo” appears on the screen. Her friend Trevor is awake, too, somewhat to her surprise. He was up late at a rave the night before – Elizabeth saw he’d posted on his LiveJournal blog that he was going out.

“Hey Trev,” she types back with one hand, while she reaches for her iPod with the other, “party OK?” Trevor, from some point unknown, sends back a flurry of half-sentences – it was more than OK, apparently – as Elizabeth connects her iPod to the laptop. She punches a few more buttons, convincing iTunes to download a few new songs and a podcast she likes onto the iPod for the walk to school. She opens her e-mail client as the IM window keeps flashing, Trevor punching the “enter” key with each new detail. “TMI!” Elizabeth yells back at him through YIM. He’s given her more info than she really wanted to know about the party.

Ignoring Trev’s persistent messaging – the “TMI” did not sink in, apparently – Elizabeth opens her e-mail client, watching as a few dozen messages, sent her way during the wee hours, float onto her screen. After a quick graze over the message titles and news headlines that arrive in the inbox, much of it looking an awful lot like spam, she decides e-mail can wait til after breakfast. May as well login to Second Life, too, while I’m at it, she thinks, bringing to life her cute avatar, which makes her smile. Time for orange juice.

Relevant Research

eGeneration Australia (2005)

Australian Kids Press Release (2005)

Ages of the Internet (UK) (2006)

Young New Zealanders are Avid Internet Users (NZ) (2005)

Britain - The Land of Online Travellers (UK, 50+ data) (2005)

Internet and the Public at Large (2002)

Internet Addiction as a Problem? (2006)

The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and their Parents (2006)

Contemporary Youth and the Postmodern Adventure (Essay, undated)

Livingstone: Families and the Internet (UK) (2001)

Livingstone: UK Children Go Online (2005)

Pew Internet Project, Generations Memo (US) (2005)

Prensky: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part I (2001)

Prensky: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II (2001)

Media and Technology in the Everyday Life of European Society (2003)

Statistics: Teen Use of Web, Online Technologies Growing (2005)

Pewinternet: Survey on Internet Use (18+) (2005)

Most teens say they've met strangers online (2006)

Report on Media Literacy amongst Children (UK) (2006), p. 34 et seq.

KIM-Survey: Children & media, computer & internet. Base analysis of the media use of 6 until 13-year old children in Germany (2005)

Emerging trends among primary school children's use of the internet (UK) (2004) [General Findigs, p. 11 et seq.]

Digital Beginnings: Children's use of popular culture, new media and new technologies (UK) (2005) (age 0-6)

OFCOM Communications Market Report 2006, p. 14-5

Wikipedia entry on Digital native