A whole new world?: October 2009

The internet has acquired many users in its time of existence therefore causing many changes in society’s behavioural patterns and as some might say, has formed many new identities. Mark Prenksy’s article, ‘The Emerging Online Life of the Digital Native: What they do differently because of technology and how they do it,’ and David Weinberger’s article, ‘A New World’ each present a different opinion on contemporary internet users (mainly being adolescents) whilst providing insight in to their personal views. According to statistics “A telephone pole of adolescents between twelve and seventeen found that 93% of adolescents use the internet for social interaction.” (Alvermann 2008:8). The following essay will explore the ideas discussed in the abovementioned articles and determine whether they are an accurate reflection of people who are using the internet today.

Prenksy focuses on the notion that there are two different types of digital people: the natives and the immigrants. Evidently, the natives are seen as the young technology users of today and the immigrant refers to their parents in the days before the internet was around. The article focuses on how the web has changed the social behaviour of people over time and how reliant the natives have become on the web forming a completely separate online life in contrast to the immigrants in their day. Sharing a similar view to Prensky is Johnson as he states “the internet is a place where people can gather, communicate and build interactive worlds. It’s up to users to design scenarios, simulations, as well as meaningful adventures and learning experiences.” (Johnson 2008:29) Prensky’s article is generally seen to be an accurate portrayal of the internet users of today. After viewing the article I personally can clearly relate as I have experienced the native/immigrant concept with my mother. I was appalled at my mother who did not know where to insert a USB flash drive in to the computer or even simply change her sim card from one phone to another. This is seen as ridiculous to people of my age bracket by the Australian Journal of language and literacy which states that “today’s children are born in to a world of digital technology with an order distinctly different from the past.” (Hansford and Adlington 2009:55)

Prensky suggests that a whole new world exists online. For Prensky, “this online life has become an entire strategy for how to live, survive and thrive in the 21st century, where cyberspace is a part of everyday life.” (Prensky 2004:2) The internet has brought about many new opportunities for people allowing them to engage in normal everyday activities in the comfort of their own home. These include different means of communication, sharing, shopping, exchanging, meeting, collecting, evaluating, gaming, learning, searching, reporting, just to name a few. These opportunities have enabled the natives to create an ‘online identity’ or in some cases more than one which allows them to be someone they’re not behind the screen and online. Prensky sees the natives as the power of the future and it is because of them that the web keeps evolving and will continue to whether we like it or not. “And while some Digital Immigrants are afraid of the new technology, and others may question its value, the Natives are never going back, en masse, to the old ways.” (Prensky 2004:13)

While Prensky writes about two different types of people and the web, Weinberger looks at ‘two completely different worlds; one real and the other virtual.’ In his article Weinberger discusses the concepts of space, time, self, and knowledge to do with both worlds. He implies that the web is a space that occupies no actual space, therefore making the web life more accessible and easier to accomplish tasks than it is in everyday life without going anywhere. “For example age invaders, is a novel interactive intergeneration social/physical game which allows the elderly to play with children in the physical space, while parents can participate in the game in real time in the virtual world through the internet.” (Khoo 2008:3) On the net “we get to determine when and how long we will participate, based solely on what suits us.” (Weinberger 2000:4) Time on the web is seen as discontinuous in that we can break off and go back to what we are doing whenever we desire and one can complete many operations in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, time in the real world is continuous and time is pre scheduled for the individual. The notion of self in this piece ties in with Prensky’s idea that the modern day native can create one or more online identities, allowing them to express multiple personalities where as in the real world the individual is only entitled to their real identity. Weinberger concludes that the web expands ones knowledge without them realising. He states that by researching one topic he is able to learn more on this matter based on the findings of others. These are only four examples of how the web differentiates the real world from the virtual world. I can relate to this argument as I shop online and buy clothes from America whilst on facebook and downloading music. I won’t argue that it is much easier to multi task in the virtual world than in the real world due to the available sources.

These points are seen to be positive however it is arguable as to whether or not the web is a good or bad thing for social being. One of the main questions Weinberger bases his studies on is: “Is the web making us more or less social?” With the many examples he provides in the article the question remains unanswered. The way I view it is: The internet makes us more social in the sense of communicating with more people through the identities we create online however it must be mindful that the character people create online may not be the same as the one that is real life. It is seen that people, generally teenagers, feel more comfortable to converse behind the screen rather than face to face as it avoids awkward and shy situations. An article from the journal of Teacher Librarian states: “Our research shows that children and teens are increasingly using telecommunications technologies, including facebook, to avoid difficult face to face conversations.” (Fodman, Munroe 2009:36).

Both articles demonstrate a fairly accurate portrayal of the online world today. It is seen that Prensky’s is more accurate as it goes in to more details in the areas of change and the effects the web has had on society and social behaviour. Weinberger’s article makes some valued points however lacks detail in some areas of effect. The fact is that the internet is changing and will continue to change as both articles state, and along with this change comes change in other areas. It is unpredictable with what the future will hold and how the internet will impact on it, all we know is: it will.

For more information on this topic visit these links:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=10015
http://freireproject.org./blogs/teenage-identity-construction-media-influence-suicide-and-internet-accomplise
http://www4.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~fleischa/papers/identity99.html
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca/cpj/essay.html
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/euricom/examining-euricom.htm

Reference list:
Khoo, E. (2008). Age invaders: social and physical inter-generational mixed reality family entertainment. Virtual Reality, 36(4), p3-16.

Johnson, L. (2009). The potential, the pitfalls, and the promise of multi-user virtual environments: getting a second life. Teacher Librarian, 36(4), p68-72.

Alvermann, D. (2008). Why Bother Theorizing Adolescents’ Online Literacies for Classroom and Practical Research?. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(1), p8-19.

Fodeman, D., & Monroe, M. (2009). The impact of Facebook on our students. Teacher Librarian, 36(5), p36-40

Hansford, D., & Adlington, R. (2009). Digital Spaces and young people’s online authoring: Challenges for teachers. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 32(1), p55-68.