The Growing Up Digital Native
“Some say he has Facebook, and blocked the world…even himself all we know is, he’s called The Stig!”
The digital native is an interesting breed, but not a justifiably superior era of human kind to its
elders. Now, this is not an instigation to prove whether or not the elder breeds are superior to the
newer, and more technologically inclined digital natives of today. It’s only proving that modern humans
(of well saturated and developed countries) can exceed in some domains, but lack the abilities to
perform at that which their elders could not.
So, could this mean that what one generation can exceed in something that the past generation
cannot, but as it moves forward the new generation loses a trait? In the case of the modern digital
native, it is by far very accurate. Now, the trendy digital native that grows popularly among the human
race is a breed of humans with an edge to technological comprehension that no other past breed can do
with such ease. The ability to multitask is easy and simplistic to the digital native. Meeting virtual
strangers is acceptable with an exchange of information that of their favorite items and tunes. The
digital native can easily pick up, play and already explore every nook and cranny of a new device before
his/her parents can read through the manual.
Is there benefits to this technologically stupendous breed of humans? Yes, indeed there is. As
Lucy Kelleway puts it in her article for the “Working World” online magazine;
“four miraculous things happen to gamers that don’t when they are slouching about in the real world.
First, they become urgently optimistic, beset by a desire to win. Second, they bond tightly, as those
who play together are more inclined to like and trust each other. Third, it makes them happy
Stakhanovites, sitting at their screens for hours in a state of focused bliss. And finally it furnishes
them with some sort of epic purpose, quite alien to people of my age.”
Indeed, the digital native is good at technological comprehension. But as it ventures to far into the
world of the unreal, it departs that of the real world. That is the digital native’s flaw…the lack of the
filter between what is real, and what is not.
This comprehension is what the previous generation could exceed in, and as the previous
generation of humans scowl at the lack of real and unreal perception, they too were scowled by their
previous generations who despised what was their tragic flaw (a cycle of scowling?). What are the
characteristics of the digital natives’ flaw?
The lack of human to human connection real life is the most visible and publicized, and not to
be shunned, I do believe the interactions between a carbon based humanoid and another is important.
However, not to be swept under the carpet, there are other characteristics that come with being a
digital native, especially among gamers as Lucy Kelleway says again in her article for the “Working
World”;
“I can’t help noticing that video games also make people lazy, grumpy, aggressive and addicted to
instant gratification. They also make you woefully inefficient: You feel productive while achieving
precisely nothing. And most dangerous of all, they make you think you can do things you can’t”
However, as she also discussed she noticed a connection between the traits of the digital generation
and the previous generation (that being aggression, inefficiency, laziness and overconfidence) Which,
sadly is true.
Yet, is it possible to discover the real world? Is it possible to maybe connect the virtual to the
real. Bring the digital native to a nature based reality? Is there still hope for the awareness of our
planet while we tread among it? These are the questions I ask about society, and the rules I will chose
to raise my young. A happy equilibrium between the powerful digital world, and the real world which
they will learn to grow and respect.
Cheers.