Double Entry Journal #8

 The term “Digital Native” was intended to be a metaphor for telling the variances that many people observed, around the turn of the twenty-first century, between the attitudes of younger and older people concerning digital technology.

 Some characteristics associated with digital natives are “younger people’s comfort with digital technology, their belief in its ease, its usefulness, and its being generally benign. It is about their seeing technology as a fun “partner” that they can master, without much effort, if they are shown or choose to.”

 I believe I am a Digital Native because I have a comfort with new technology. I find that I would be lost without it.

 “Digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring both to wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities.”

 The author defines wisdom as “how and how much people make use of resources around them, how they filter through them to find what they need, and how technology aids them will play an important role in determining the wisdom of their decisions and judgments.”

 “We make decisions based on only a portion of the available data. We make assumptions, often inaccurate, about the thoughts or intentions of others. We depend on educated guessing and verification to find new answers.” New technology can help us in these areas by giving us all of the possible information so that we do not need to make educated guesses and it verifies the answers.

 “Socrates feared that writing would diminish our memories.”

 “Parents and educators are digitally wise when they recognize the imperative and prepare the children in their care for the future. Educators can let students learn by using new technologies, putting themselves in the role of guides, context providers, and quality controllers.”

The author states that he is "...opposed to those who claim the unenhanced mind and unaided thinking are somehow superior to the enhanced mind." I, however, am not opposed to that claim because all of the Internet’s information was once in books. Just because one does not use new technology does not mean that their mind is inferior to those who do.

     Quote:

“As the world becomes more complex, planning and prioritization skills far beyond the capability of the unenhanced human brain will be required; digital enhancements will be needed to help us to anticipate second- and third-order effects to which the unaided mind may be blind.”

Response:

This quote from the book “Deconstructing Digital Natives” describes how complex the world’s technology is becoming. I believe that the planning and prioritization skills will be required. I also agree that these skills will be far beyond the capability of the unenhanced human brain.  Because of this fact, digital enhancements will be needed to assist us.

First Day of Kindergarten

Sources:

Thomas, Michael. Deconstructing digital natives: young people, technology, and the new literacies. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.

"Digital natives | asocialspectator." asocialspectator | the observations of a geek on #brandreputation & #comms in the digital landscape. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2012. <http://asocialspectator.wordpress.com/category/digital-natives/>.