4 ms·

Knowing how to put a footer on a Word document does not make you a digital native, and not knowing does not make one a digital immigrant. Knowing to look it up

by Gunax 5y ago

Knowing how to put a footer on a Word document does not make you a digital native, and not knowing does not make one a digital immigrant. Knowing to look it up though, does.

puchatek 5y ago
I know this one! The answer is: stackoverflow
wisty 5y ago
The terms don't make sense though. No-one would say that Mark Zuckerberg (born way before Google was founded in 1998) is a digital immigrant who wouldn't be expected to know how to ask Google. The whole point of the article is that "digital native" and "digital immigrant" is silly. There's no huge skills gap between people who learnt to use computers when they were young, and people who learnt when they were older (especially once you account for the amount of practice older people have). Lots of older people know to "ask Google", and lots of young people lack the problem solving skills to do so. The big mistake in "digital native" thinking is to assume that all IT tasks are part of one general skillset that needs to be learn while you are young, and that therefore 'young people are good with all that IT stuff'. If anything, I'd say younger people are worse at IT. It used to be the case that a lot of older people didn't know how the basic skills of computer use (typing, clicking on a GUI, having some idea of what a file system was, etc). A 60 year old used to panic over how to do basic computer things and ask their 20 year old coworker who did a few hours of computer class in school. Now the 20 year old coworker is more likely to need to ask the 60 year old for help.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
hkt 5y ago
I'd say opting for continuous, non-paginated documents might be a good indicator too. Footers are for people who print things..!
jeremyjh 5y ago
Did you miss the part where these are law students and lawyers being assessed?

4 ms·

Knowing how to put a footer on a Word document does not make you a digital native, and not knowing does not make one a digital immigrant. Knowing to look it up

by Gunax 5y ago

Knowing how to put a footer on a Word document does not make you a digital native, and not knowing does not make one a digital immigrant. Knowing to look it up though, does.

puchatek 5y ago
I know this one! The answer is: stackoverflow
wisty 5y ago
The terms don't make sense though. No-one would say that Mark Zuckerberg (born way before Google was founded in 1998) is a digital immigrant who wouldn't be expected to know how to ask Google. The whole point of the article is that "digital native" and "digital immigrant" is silly. There's no huge skills gap between people who learnt to use computers when they were young, and people who learnt when they were older (especially once you account for the amount of practice older people have). Lots of older people know to "ask Google", and lots of young people lack the problem solving skills to do so. The big mistake in "digital native" thinking is to assume that all IT tasks are part of one general skillset that needs to be learn while you are young, and that therefore 'young people are good with all that IT stuff'. If anything, I'd say younger people are worse at IT. It used to be the case that a lot of older people didn't know how the basic skills of computer use (typing, clicking on a GUI, having some idea of what a file system was, etc). A 60 year old used to panic over how to do basic computer things and ask their 20 year old coworker who did a few hours of computer class in school. Now the 20 year old coworker is more likely to need to ask the 60 year old for help.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
hkt 5y ago
I'd say opting for continuous, non-paginated documents might be a good indicator too. Footers are for people who print things..!
jeremyjh 5y ago
Did you miss the part where these are law students and lawyers being assessed?