Prensky's immigrant/native divide

 

I’m someone who checks my phone first thing in the morning and probably scrolls more than I should and I totally get why Marc Prensky coined the term “digital native” back in 2001. It captures something true about how comfortable we are with technology. But after reading more especially from Paul Kirschner’s side of the debate, I think we’ve been overly romanticizing this idea. Prensky argued that today’s students think and process information differently because we’ve grown up with tech. He painted a picture of a generational divide between tech-savvy natives and outdated immigrants. But Kirschner—along with a lot of recent research, completely busts this myth wide open. Comfort with tech doesn’t equal competence. Just because I can upload a TikTok or troubleshoot Wi-Fi doesn’t mean I instinctively know how to critically read online sources or manage my time across five browser tabs.

One of the most damaging myths Prensky promoted, according to Kirschner, is that we’re all expert multitaskers. Spoiler: we’re not. Most of us are just switch-tasking, and the cost to our concentration is real. I used to pride myself on juggling Spotify, homework, and group chats all at once, until I started bombing tests. Now I’ve learned to shut things off and focus, because real learning requires it. What Prensky got right is that students today do learn differently. But that doesn’t mean traditional methods are obsolete, it means we need to blend them with digital tools thoughtfully. Learning isn’t about trends; it’s about intentional growth. I feel we should retire the “native” label and start talking about what digital literacy and wisdom actually look like.