Rethinking the Term “Digital Native”

In just 30 minutes, an American teenager in 2025 might watch live webcam footage of wildfires or bombings that are destroying people’s homes and lives; engage in multiple Snapchat interactions; seek help from ChatGTP on a class assignment; catch up on the news as curated by an influencer; and watch a series of videos suggested by YouTube algorithms—all on one 6-inch screen.

From my Generation X perspective, that seems like an overwhelming amount of information. Today’s media saturation might seem intimidating to me because I did not grow up with it. I’m not a digital native—a term popularized by technologist Marc Prensky, referring to individuals born after 1980 who, because of their upbringing, are supposedly uniquely adapted to digital technology. 

As the director of media literacy at La Jolla Country Day School (CA), I hear this term at least once a week. But, is anyone really a “digital native”? Being born into a world marked by a given characteristic doesn’t automatically mean that you’re able to adapt to that characteristic, let alone thrive under its influence. I think we need to reconsider the term “digital native” and how we use it.

Youth and Technology

In 2001, Prensky first wrote about “digital natives” in an On the Horizon journal article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.” He suggested that students born after 1980 thought and processed information differently than their predecessors (“digital immigrants”), as a result of being surrounded by new technology. Work like Prensky’s raised important questions: Do young people’s brains develop differently because of daily exposure to video games, the internet, hundreds of cable TV channels, and on-demand digital music? Do “digital natives” require schools that are equipped with a variety of digital tools, approaches, and curricula? Does learning through digital media fundamentally differ from other learning methods?

Over the past 25 years, researchers have sought to find answers to these sorts of questions, considering potential links between technology use and brain development of children and adolescents. Researchers Mark Bullen, Tannis Morgan, and Adnan Qayyum asked whether age is more important than other factors in determining comfort with digital learning. In a 2011 article published in the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology,Digital Learners in Higher Education: Generation Is Not the Issue,” they decided the answer was “no.” 

Literacy scholars like Julie Coiro have delved into important ways digital reading comprehension differs from the experience of reading text on a printed page. As early as 2003, she published a paper in The Reading Teacher, “Reading Comprehension on the Internet: Expanding Our Understanding of Reading Comprehension to Encompass New Literacies,” where she outlined new literacies for the 21st century. 

Outside of the realm of formal research, the term “digital native” quickly took hold in the vernacular, especially in educational contexts, and has maintained that hold for a quarter century. I believe that along the way it has evolved into a concept that is misleading and potentially counterproductive. I often hear the term used dismissively, as if young people aren’t merely fluent in digital technologies but have evolved to be specifically adapted to them. A well-intentioned adult might say something like: “The sudden omnipresence of AI tools might be baffling for us, but today’s kids are uniquely suited to handle it; after all, they’re digital natives.” 

And that is simply not true. No human being has evolved to adapt to technologies that have only existed for a few generations. 

I’ve spoken with students who seem at ease with the concept of an AI avatar acting as a “friend.” But, as adults and educators, we know that this doesn’t necessarily indicate that students possess the skills or mindset needed to understand why AI bots respond in particular ways. That requires knowledge of how these digital tools are developed to keep young people—and the rest of us—coming back. 

What’s at Stake?

The problem with calling someone a “digital native” isn’t merely semantic. If we find false comfort in the idea that rapid technology changes—such as generative AI and all that it can do—are less impactful on young people, we’re missing what’s really happening in our schools and communities. 

Today, young people form many, if not most, of their social attachments, concepts of self, and beliefs about the world in digital spaces. Teens are increasingly likely to rely on social media for news. New usages and meanings (along with emojis) have emerged for words that are central to identity formation and socialization: “like,” “friend,” “self,” and “love.”

We know there are powerful and important affordances to digital technologies: the ability to connect to family, friends, and a global community; opportunities to express oneself and share one’s talents; access to apps that can support everything from language learning to mindfulness; and more. At the same time, everyone working in schools is aware of concerning trends like cyberbullying, sleep disruption, and exposure to harmful content and misleading information.

Whether or not a causal link can be proven between, let’s say, social media use and anxiety, we know that young people’s brains are developing in vital ways as they are navigating interpersonal relationships, an ever-expanding news and information landscape, academic pressures, and the creation of their own identities. It has always been our job in schools to guide their development by providing tools, resources, skills, and habits that will position young people to thrive. This responsibility now requires formal education in digital media.

In the Classroom

As emerging technology continues to evolve, so does media literacy—the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and take action using media in various forms. Media literacy promotes critical thinking, digital citizenship, digital wellness, and an understanding of how what we experience in traditional and digital media shapes our perception of reality. 

At La Jolla Country Day, our media literacy program aims to provide lessons and units addressing a wide range of how young people learn, interact, and grow in digital spaces, including:

Digital-citizenship, digital-footprint, and digital-security education: Our lower school design and innovation department introduces students to these concepts. By middle school, professionals ranging from our director of security to outside experts collaborate with our wellness team in helping students and their families approach the new social and academic demands of preadolescence and adolescence. Every ninth grader has a formal introduction to media and digital literacy. 

Social media literacy instruction: Our wellness team and media literacy department recently drafted Pre-K–12 social media literacy standards and are creating lessons for fifth through eighth grades in areas such as healthy relationships online, body image, and app-platform design.

Digital news and information literacy: Our library team embeds lateral reading and SIFT, and other ways to evaluate online information, in lessons across divisions and departments to address mis- and disinformation and news bias.

Age-appropriate algorithmic literacy: From practicing basic if/then logic in lower school, to studying the specific design principles of social media platforms in middle school, to taking a deep dive into coding and AI in upper school, students begin to understand algorithms and how they appear in everyday life. Every 12th grader participates in a seminar on the ethics of AI use in the college application process.

A key aspect of our digital and media literacy initiatives is that the work is a shared responsibility of all departments, across grade levels and divisions. While having a dedicated department for media literacy is a privilege and, we believe, an advantage, it cannot replace the importance of collaboration. It is essential to have “all hands on deck” as we undertake the vital shared task of helping students navigate the digital landscape of the 21st century.

Author
Lucas Jacob

Lucas Jacob is director of writing, communication, and media literacy at La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California.