The Digital Native Versus Immigrant Divide

    The immigrant/native divide, as described by Prensky, is this idea that new generations who have been born into the digital world have grown up in such a different way than those who were born before the digital world that it has created a divide that affects how students learn. The "digital native" began learning in a time with widespread technology, while "digital immigrants" learned before many of the technological advancements we have today. Given these differences, Prensky suggests that there is now a divide between teachers, who are digital immigrants, and students, who are digital natives that affect our educational system. For example, given how quickly digital natives are used to receiving information due to technology, the way they process information differs from how digital immigrants are used to processing information. With this, it can be difficult for digital immigrants to understand this and adapt their teaching methods to accommodate this. Additionally, according to the reading it states, "Digital Immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected through years of interaction and practice." (Prensky, 2012, p. 70). Even though not all Digital Immigrants may think this way, this furthers the divide thus making it more difficult to teach new generations effectively. 

    Though I believe that Prensky has brought up some interesting points about how the digital age may have affected teacher-student dynamics and education, there have been some myths found associated with his ideas. An article by Kirschner (2017) gathered some evidence to outline a few of the myths in Presnky's work. Kirschner discusses that being a 'digital native' doesn't necessarily mean one is 'digitally literate.' What I think he means by this is that growing up with technology does not necessarily mean one knows how to use it in ways that further their learning. The article states, "... while students appear to use a large quantity and variety of technologies for communication, learning, staying connected with their friends and engaging with the world around them, they are using them primarily for “personal empowerment and entertainment, but not always digitally literate in using technology to support their learning..." (Kirschner, 2017). This statement shows that the term "digital native" doesn't really hold the meaning Prensky claims it does. This is because even though people grew up with technology, they still must learn how to be 'literate' with technology which is evidently shown to not always be the case. 

Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67(67), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001

Prensky, M. (2012). From digital natives to digital wisdom : hopeful essays for 21st century learning. Corwin.

Here is a helpful quick video defining digital natives and digital immigrants for some more details: 

Interpersonal Relationships

    Knapps relational model describes the different stages that one may experience while in a relationship. This can look very different depending on the type of relationship you are in, whether that be formal or casual. Additionally, someone may not enter all the stages and could skip certain stages depending on how they feel. I think in many cases, since we as humans are constantly entering new relationships, this happens to be the case. After reading about this model, there is one relationship that I have had in my life that pretty much went through all of the stages which I think is pretty cool to reflect on. 

    This person entered my life when I first got to college. She was very spontaneous and fun, which aligned with my personality, so I got a good first impression. We also happened to live together in a dorm suite together so we spent a lot of time together and got to the bonding stage pretty quickly. I won't get into too much detail, but some things started happened that sort of rubbed me the wrong way. It was never one big event that happened that caused us to start the differentiation stage, but rather a combination of things that led me to realize we had very different priorities and values in life. After progressively growing a part for months, we ended up avoiding each other quite a bit and after I moved away, I would say our friendship is pretty much terminated since we no longer keep in touch. 

    After reflecting on this experience, I think it is so interesting that our relationship progressed through all the stages in such a short amount of time. Since it was so short, I feel like I can almost recall the moments in which our relationship began to transition. One stage that I would like to focus on however, is the initiating and experimenting phase. These early phases, in my opinion, are ones that are most likley to be affected by online communication. Although, me and this person I spoke about were roommates, she had initially reached out over social media to talk before we all moved in together. Additionally, our first moments in the next phase or experimenting were also mostly online. After adding each other on different social media platforms, we would frequently send each other funny videos which helped us find some common ground.  Coming from a small town, it was not common that the first encounter I had with a friend was not face to face. 

    In our reading about perception, self,  and communication, it states "Perception is a factor that increases the complexity of communication" (Pearson et al., 2021, p. 30).  With this, I think our perception of another person in these initial phases of Knapps model can greatly affect the outcome of a relationship. Having my first few encounters with this person online made it hard to tell her personality further than what we spoke about over text. Perhaps, if I had these encounters face to face, my perception would be different which would affect the level to which we bonded so quickly. 

References

Pearson, J. C., Nelson, P. E., Titsworth, S., & Hosek, A. M. (2021). Human communication (7th 

ed.). Mcgraw-Hill Education.

Oversharing Online

Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are great platforms to share aspects of your life and connect with others. Additionally, social media is unique in that many people, even some you are complete strangers with, can comment on your life in any way they want. Research states, “Roughly two-thirds of teens say [social media sites] help people their age interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds, find different points of view or show their support for causes or issues.” (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). With this, it is important to note that social media is very powerful in spreading messages and influencing a person's life. 
1. Is there an ideal number of “friends” or connections individuals have on Facebook that can improve their mental health?      I do not believe that there is an ideal number of “friends” or connections individuals have on social media sites, such as Facebook, that can improve their mental health. This is because everyone has different values and what they feel is a sufficient number of “friends” on social media. Additionally, in my experience, some people like to have many connections while others appreciate just a few connections. Both situations can be meaningful depending on the person's genuineness, so I do not think there is necessarily a correct number of friends to have.      I also think there may be a range that could exist and if you fall below or above the range there could be negative effects on mental health. For example, with only a few friends, someone may get fewer comments or likes on their posts which can have negative effects on mental health if they start comparing themselves to others. On the other hand, however, if someone has a really large amount of friends, there may be a factor of alienation. A journal on interpersonal communications states, “Technology is most alienating when it's used as a substitute for face-to-face communication.” (Adler et al., 2004, p. 31). If someone spends so much time on social media to gain that amount of friends, they may be using social media to replace in-person communication. Thus, the ideal number of friends could look different for everyone depending on their personality and how they use social media, but there may be a range of friends within which someone could ideally fall to avoid these potential negative effects.   2. What factors might influence whether Facebook has negative influences, like links with depression, versus positive results, such as boosts in self-esteem?      Some of the factors that may influence positive versus negative results could be how someone uses social media, the type of feedback they may receive, and their personality traits. For example, if they are actively using social media to make posts and comments on other people's posts, it can feel good to receive positive feedback and make connections with others. However, if they are just scrolling through posts of everyone else's lives, it is difficult to not make comparisons to their own life. Lastly, I feel that there are many times when people are very supportive through social media and give feedback to others that contribute to boosting self-esteem. However, there are also many times that this is not the case and negative comments towards others circulate through social media freely.      Additionally, some people have certain personality traits including varying levels of self-esteem that can greatly be affected in this way. In a journal discussing online communication it states, “One study followed social media users for years and found that for adolescent girls, depression leads to social media use rather than vice versa.” (Adler et al., 2004, p. 36). Though different types of feedback one receives can have a lasting impact on someone’s mental health, it is also important to recognize that people with mental health issues may be using social media as an outlet and may be more susceptible to negative influences. 

References

Adler, R. B., Rosenfeld, L. B., Towne, N., & Proctor, R. F. (2004). Interplay : the process of interpersonal communication. Oxford University Press.

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018, November 28). Teens’ Social Media Habits and Experiences. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/28/teens-social-media-habits-and-experiences/

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About Me

Hey everyone! 

My name is Ashley and I am a 4th year Kinesiology major. Though I'll graduate this year with a bachelors degree in kinesiology, I plan on becoming a Physician Assistant. My next step, however, is getting an EMT certification so I can gain clinical hours before applying to PA programs. 

I grew up on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. I currently attend OSU and live in Oregon. I have not taken any communication courses before so I am excited to learn more about communicating online. As of right now, I primarily use instagram, snapchat, and emails to communicate online. I like to catch up with friends over these apps and keep in touch with the people I don't see everyday. A little fun fact about myself is that I grew up on an island and still don't know how to surf! Don't worry, I still love the ocean, but I don't think I'll ever be coordinated enough to actually catch a wave. 

Here's one of my favorite places to go whenever I'm back home: 

Tunnels beach