Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives

You know, it’s quite the responsibility to be a digital native.  Always tweeting and googling and digging and multitasking and managing my life both online and offline, it’s really pretty exhausting.  The strange thing is that this is my normal and I (like the billions of other young people who have grown up using digital technology) am blissfully unaware of constantly accelerating effects of technology on our global culture.  Sometimes you have to remove yourself from your world and get a birds eye view to understand the big picture and the implications of your actions on the future.

And that is just what Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives does.  Harvard Professors John Palfrey and Urs Gasser attempt to explain the habits and behaviors of digital natives to their parents, teachers, and other adults who just can’t comprehend what motivates this different generation.

With more than 1 billion digitally literate young people around the world, Palfrey and Gasser thinks of the “digital natives” as not just any other generation, but a population born after 1980 and has grown up with digital technology.

But what makes this extraordinary group of individuals so special?  Technological advancement has ALWAYS occurred in the past, but never to this speed.  Consider this food for thought: Gutenberg didn’t create the first European printing press until centuries after the Chinese first developed theirs.  On the flip side, in just a few short decades billions of people around the world have quickly adopted new digital technologies.

With the foundations of our culture shaking now faster than ever before because of the Internet and other tools, it’s no wonder that adults everywhere are concerned about the future of our society. Are we scared about the unknown, but no generation has lived their entire life immersed in this digital world, so while we can discuss the digital natives now and how culture has developed to this point, the rest is completely unwritten.

In Born Digital, Palfrey and Gasser’s main message is clear: To present the positive and negatives surrounding the digital revolution and suggest how we can work together to ease the massive transition.

So what should we all know?  I really wanted to keep it to three points but pulled out a solid six for you to soak in:

1-    Our fear of the unknown has led to overreacting.  The problems digital natives face online everyday are no different than the problems young people faced years ago- bullying, stalking, piracy, none of these things are “new” to our society, just taking place in a new or different arena.

2-    While the personal and social identities of previous generations were concrete, the identities of digital natives are fluid as they have the ability to explore as many as they’d like in a matter of minutes.  His friends, followers, and fans now have a greater opportunity to help shape his social identity contributing to his profile, sharing photos, and building relationships.  But here’s the deal, while on the surface digital natives can easily create unique fragmented identities, these selves fuse together to form identity that straddles their online and offline lives.

3-    The line between the public and private lives of digital natives is beginning to disappear.  Not only are digital natives contributing more information to their digital identities than their parents and grandparents would ever dare, digital natives begin contributing to their digital dossier (all information associated with a name both accessible and not).  Medical records, legal documents, baby photos, press releases, credit card information, it’s all disjointed pieces that make up an individuals digital dossier, and while it might not all be accessible to the average googler, it still lingers in the outer-Web and could potentially find a user through a corporation, institution or other third-party.  So as the first crop of digital natives reach adulthood, like it or not, these young people have a digital portfolio of information that’s completely impossible to manage.

4-    Digital natives are choosing to participate with their media.  The Internet allows users to create new and original content and easily and affordably broadcast it to the entire world.  While it might not all be quality content (i.e. 90% of YouTube), digital natives swimming in a sea of original art work, essays, news, mash-up videos, grassroots campaigns, songs, encyclopedia articles, and other content.  While with creativity normally comes a mass amount of piracy, this new expectation to interact in new new ways is causing lawmakers, mainstream media outlets, educators, and celebrities rethink how to connect their messages with their target audiences.  Counter to popular belief, the discussions taking place online might not have translated to dramatic rises at election polling places (minus the 2008 presidential election) but closely parallels the sky-rocketing level of civic engagement of young people post 9/11.  Once again, digital natives online and offline lives complement each other.

5-    As young people in wealthy countries like the United States and Switzerland become exceptionally digitally literate, the divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” continues to expand.  Maybe the most troubling thing about the current transition is the fact that the majority of young people in the world are not digital natives and generally not on the same playing field as those growing up in countries with widespread broadband internet access.

6-    While the book highlights all the issues that plague digital natives as we continue to swim into uncharted waters, one goal became remarkably clear:  It will take the help of digital natives, their parents, educators to solve the problems that lie ahead.

I was watching TV’s most underrated comedy, Parks & Recreation, on Hulu and literally had to write this quote down.  As the Parks Dept. deputy chief Leslie Knope constantly picks fights with the Libraries department, a sassy librarian asked Leslie, “are you teaching you parks people how to read?”  In response, Leslie quickly retorted, “You’re pretty cocky for someone whose job is obsolete because of the Internet.”

Leslie’s not 100% correct, but her come-back does exemplify the fear that many are facing as they question the future of our global culture.  To succeed though, Palfrey and Gassler believe that we have to stay relevant and continue to connect with digital natives.  It’s a parent and educator’s job to protect their children, no matter the changing environment.

Born Digital is a fantastic read for anyone who wants to join the discussion and get a snapshot of this growing generation.

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