Beyond the 'digital natives' debate: towards a more nuanced understanding of students' technology experiences

The idea of ‘the digital natives’, a generation of tech-savvy young people immersed in

digital technologies for which current education systems cannot cater, has gained

widespread popularity on the basis of claims rather than evidence. Recent research

has shown flaws in the argument that there is an identifiable generation, or even a

single type of highly adept technology user. For educators, the diversity revealed by

these studies provides valuable insights into students’ experiences of technology

inside and outside formal education. While this body of work provides a preliminary

understanding, it also highlights subtleties and complexities that require further

investigation. It suggests, for example, that we must go beyond simple dichotomies

evident in the digital native debate to develop a more sophisticated understanding of

our students’ experiences of technology. Using a review of recent research findings as

a starting point, this paper identifies some key issues for educational researchers,

offers new ways of conceptualising key ideas using theoretical constructs from

Castells, Bourdieu and Bernstein, and makes a case for how we need to develop the

debate in order to advance our understanding.