Debunking the ‘digital native’: beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy
Date
2010
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Abstract
This paper interrogates the currently pervasive discourse of the ‘net generation’ finding the
concept of the ‘digital native’ especially problematic, both empirically and conceptually. We
draw on a research project of South African higher education students’ access to and use of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to show that age is not a determining
factor in students’ digital lives; rather, their familiarity and experience using ICTs is more relevant.
We also demonstrate that the notion of a generation of ‘digital natives’ is inaccurate:
those with such attributes are effectively a digital elite. Instead of a new net generation growing
up to replace an older analogue generation, there is a deepening digital divide in South Africa
characterized not by age but by access and opportunity; indeed, digital apartheid is alive and
well. We suggest that the possibility for digital democracy does exist in the form of a mobile
society which is not age specific, and which is ubiquitous. Finally, we propose redefining the
concepts ‘digital’, ‘net’, ‘native’, and ‘generation’ in favour of reclaiming the term ‘digitizen’.
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Journal Article (peer-reviewed)
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Keywords
CELLULAR PHONES, CRITIQUE, DIGITAL NATIVE, DISCOURSE, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INFORMATION SOCIETY, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, SOUTHERN AFRICA, SOUTH AFRICA, DIGITAL CITIZENS
Citation
Brown, C. & Czerniewicz, L. (2010). Debunking the ‘digital native’: beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26: 357-369. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00369.x