Digital Natives

          In my own opinion, Digital native refers to the generation that was born into new technology. Wikipedia's definition of Digital Native is " a person, mainly a young person, who was born during or after the general introduction of digital technology, and through interacting with digital technology from an early age, has a greater understanding of its concepts. A digital native may also be identified as a person who understands the value of digital technology and uses this to seek out opportunities for implementing it." In this case with such a high degree in the advancement of technology in modern times, every child born in or after this decade will automatically have the title Digital Native.
          The term digital immigrant overlooks the fact that many people born before the digital age were the inventors, designers, developers and first users of digital technology and in this sense could be regarded as the original 'natives'. Today's students from kindergarten through college represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today's average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.
          On the other hand, you have Digital Immigrants. A Digital Immigrant is an individual who was born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it to some extent later in their life. Therefore, majority of our parents can be classified as Digital Immigrants. This definition raises question. What exactly is the starting and ending point for a person to be classified as Digital Native or Digital Immigrant?