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Born Digital
- ZeroGravitas 16y agoThe first anecdote originates with Clay Shirky. The vital missing detail is that the TV programme was "Dora the Explorer" which has a weird postmodern thing where a mouse cursor appears on the screen and clicks things. It's not unexpected in that situation for a child to look for a mouse. Of course in this age of iPads and iPhones the child would be as likely to not know what a mouse is for. Which gets to the core of my issues with all this "born digital" or "digital native" stuff. Someone growing up with an NES is different from someone growing up with a computer, is different from someone growing up with an iPad, is different from someone growing up with home internet access, is different from someone with pervasive mobile internet etc. It makes no sense to draw an arbitrary line in the sand and say everyone after this point was born digital.