The digital native – myth and reality
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and promote a realistic understanding of young people and digital technology with a view to supporting information professionals in playing useful and meaningful roles in supporting current generations of young people. In particular the paper aims to offer a critical perspective on popular and political understandings of young people and digital technologies – characterised by notions of “digital natives”, the “net generation” and other commonsense portrayals of expert young technology users. The paper seeks to consider the accuracy of such descriptions in reflecting young people's actual uses of digital technology and digital information. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent published literatures on young people and digital technology in information sciences, education studies and media/communication studies. Findings The findings show that young people's engagements with digital technologies are varied and often unspectacular – in stark contrast to popular portrayals of the digital native. As such, the paper highlights a misplaced technological and biological determinism that underpins current portrayals of children, young people and digital technology. Originality/value The paper challenges the popular assumption that current generations of children and young people are innate, talented users of digital technologies. Having presented a more realistic basis for approaching generat…
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Being a digital native does not automatically translate into being ICT literate or digitally competent.
“However, scholars have emphasised that being a digital native does not automatically translate into being ICT literate or digitally competent (Helsper & Eynon, 2010;Selwyn, 2009).”
From Taking a future perspective by learning from the past – A systematic review of assessment instruments that aim to measure primary and secondary school students' ICT literacy (2016) · cites this paper as Selwyn, 2009
Students lack necessary ICT competences.
“it has been identified that students lack necessary ICT competences”
From Taking a future perspective by learning from the past – A systematic review of assessment instruments that aim to measure primary and secondary school students' ICT literacy (2016) · cites this paper as Selwyn, 2009
ICT literacy is vital for young people.
“ICT literacy has been pointed out as vital for young people”
From Taking a future perspective by learning from the past – A systematic review of assessment instruments that aim to measure primary and secondary school students' ICT literacy (2016) · cites this paper as Selwyn, 2009
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Oxford Internet Survey 2007 Report: The Internet in Britain
Dutton, W. H., & Helsper, E. J. (2009) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1327033 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Selwyn, N.
- Affiliations
- University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Selwyn, Neil
- ORCID
- Selwyn, Neil
- Venue
- Aslib Proceedings
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2009-07-05
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 364-379
- ISSN
- 0001-253X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2082562650
- Cited by
- 749
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 64 · 2013: 58 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 105.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Aslib Journal of Information Management (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Generational Differences and Trends
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Library Science and Information Literacy
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Literacy, Media, and Education
- Keywords
- digital natives, youth, digital technology use, information professionals, generational differences in technology use, technological determinism, biological determinism, children and technology
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