They’ve seen attack ships on fire off
Is that why you know how to burst the iCloud? I’m flattered. But the dirty little secret of so-called digital natives is that you can just Google – say – how to set up a new wifi network, et voilà!, the in-laws will think you’re the next Mark Zuckerberg.
You’re telling me young people aren’t prenaturally intuitive when it comes to coding? Exactly, although the idea that young people are better than old people with technology has become received wisdom. A paper published in the journal Teaching and Teacher Education says that “information-savvy digital natives do not exist”.
But my grandson showed me how to mail merge! The study’s author says assuming the kids are all right with computers is damaging. “We have to treat people as human, cognitive learners and stop considering one specific group to have special powers,” says Paul Kirschner of the Open University of the Netherlands.
So what do these young people use technology for if not planet-altering coding?The same thing as the rest of us. Passively soaking up information.
