This article from the New York Times, “The Children of Cyberspace” details how much our community is changing from generation to generation. I read a lot about this topic, but there were a few new points I’ve never heard.
1. “People two, three or four years apart are having completely different experiences with technology”
2. “They’ll want their teachers and professors to respond to them immediately, and they will expect instantaneous access to everyone, because after all, that is the experience they have growing up,” he said. “They should be just like their older brothers and sisters, but they are not.”
3. “Studies performed by Dr. Rosen at Cal State show that 16- to 18-year-olds perform seven tasks, on average, in their free time — like texting on the phone, sending instant messages and checking Facebookwhile sitting in front of the television.
People in their early 20s can handle only six, Dr. Rosen found, and those in their 30s perform about five and a half.”
4. “[younger children are] more likely to have some relaxed notions about privacy. The idea of a phone or any other device that is persistently aware of its location and screams out its geographic coordinates, even if only to friends, might seem spooky to older age groups.
What a challenge educators have today. As the way we think changes and who we are teaching is changing-how will we modify our classrooms, media centers, and schools to meet these needs?
