Digital Natives: Everything You Need To Know About Them
It is indisputable that nowadays technology is part of our life and that, through it, we have to do many things. A few years ago this was not the case; We weren’t so reliant on technology to do anything, so a lot of people have had to adapt to this. Those who are born knowing the technology are called “digital natives.”
When we talk about digital natives we refer to the generation that was born in the age of technology and this has made them have great ability and dexterity in the digital environment. Do you want to know more about them? Here we tell you.
What are digital natives?
Mark Prensky, writer and lecturer on education, was the one who introduced the term “digital native.” He did it to refer to people who were born from the nineties, since they had come to the world when technologies had a great relevance in society. This makes them have greater abilities and skills to use digital tools and devices.
Digital natives have an excessive relationship of dependence with technologies, since they use them for everything: study, communicate, buy, entertain, learn, etc.
The cognitive structure of digital natives is different. When you start working in a company, these people bring different values. For this reason, many companies take into account the characteristics of this generation and hire them to improve their productivity and take advantage of the potential of these digital experts.
6 things you should know about digital natives
Nowadays, we have made ourselves live surrounded by technology and we are nobody without our phones, tablets, computers, without the internet … It has become essential in our lives and a few years ago it was unthinkable for this to happen. We are going to see some characteristics and curiosities about digital natives.
They tend to have a very high capacity for intuition and logical reasoning
These children are used to relating concepts to actions, so they are always looking for a reason for what they do. All this also favors the learning of certain areas related to science and technology, programming, robotics, artificial intelligence, etc., since to carry out these types of activities they need that logical thinking they have to find the solution to all challenges with whom they meet.
They need to interact to learn, memorizing is not enough
When they study, they need feedback to know that they are doing well. For this reason, the best method for a digital native to learn is for them to feel involved in the subject and to be able to participate through activities and challenges that make them think that what they are studying is something useful and fun.
They are self-taught and like to create content
These children do not usually ask adults when they have questions; they go on the internet and look for the answers to their concerns. They are children who are very informed and, in a few seconds, can meet their need for knowledge through this medium. They are also very good at creating interesting content, tutorials, game guides, YouTube channels, among many other things; especially when they are older.
They have a much more open mind
Since they have grown up surrounded by technology, they do not understand borders and communicate with people from many different places. This generation is discovering a multitude of cultures, customs and ideas, since they interact in different forums, pages, online games … They usually have friends from different parts of the world and this makes them have a much more open and less traditional mind.
They are very active on social media
These digital natives manage not only one social network, but they manage them all and, in addition, they do it with ease. They are boys connected to the world at all times through the network and, in addition, they feel the need to share whatever they do through these social networks.
This is one of the points that can most concern parents, since its use must be controlled very well, because an abuse of social networks can cause problems.
Digital natives tend to be more impatient
They are guys used to getting things immediately, since through the network we can get anything in a very short time. For this reason, they end up getting used to the fact that everything they want they can get immediately, just as they do in the digital environment ; with one click they download, play or find the information they are looking for.
It is important that we instill in them the importance of effort and patience in their life, two fundamental values to be successful.
In short, digital natives are the children of the technology generation and show peculiar characteristics with respect to those who grew up without these technologies and have had to adapt. They were born when technology was already an important part of our life and, therefore, their way of thinking and behaving is closely related to it.
