{"id":315,"date":"2009-10-22T21:30:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-23T01:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/?p=315"},"modified":"2010-10-25T13:54:07","modified_gmt":"2010-10-25T17:54:07","slug":"minds-for-the-future-why-digital-immersion-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/2009\/10\/22\/minds-for-the-future-why-digital-immersion-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Minds for the Future: Why Digital Immersion Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-315 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/2009\/10\/22\/minds-for-the-future-why-digital-immersion-matters\/essay-kb\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/files\/2009\/10\/Essay-KB-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/2009\/10\/22\/minds-for-the-future-why-digital-immersion-matters\/book-top\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/files\/2009\/10\/book-top-150x150.gif\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">&#8220;<strong><em>If we hope to head towards a bright future in the digital age, then,<br \/>\nit begins with preparing Digital Natives and other young kids to help lead the way<\/em><\/strong>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, the term \u201cDigital Native\u201d <em>is<\/em> misleading, because no two Digital Natives are created equal.  Each of them has varying degrees of access to digital technologies, literacy skills, and participation within their peer culture.  What\u2019s more alarming is the \u201cdivide\u201d opening up between those that have access to the network and those without.  But that in itself isn\u2019t the whole problem, because <em>having<\/em> access alone isn\u2019t the solution.  While access speaks of the stark contrast amongst the haves and have-nots, digital literacy reveals the difference in those who have the skills to navigate this new landscape and those that don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Like many other crucial skills, digital literacy <em>needs<\/em> to be taught and learned through constant practice.  Naturally, this doesn\u2019t explain why some Digital Natives will get more out of their sessions than others do.  But what about those who get <em>much<\/em> more practice?  Its estimated by Professor Urs Gasser that for kids who turn fifteen in 2016 or so, \u201cthey are likely to spend somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 hours per year on digital technologies.\u201d  Going onto say that, \u201cFive years later, at age twenty, they will have accumulated at least 10,000 hours as active users of the Internet, if the current statistics still apply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>&#8220;For these Digital Natives it will only have taken them five years.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This amount of time, in turn, is equivalent to what Malcolm Gladwell argued to be the magic number for true expertise in <em>Outliers<\/em>.  Whether you take into consideration world-class violinists, concert pianists, chess grandmasters, star athletes, Bill Gates, the Beatles, and what have you, 10,000 hours appears again and again.  \u201cIt seems,\u201d neurologist Daniel Levitin writes, \u201cthat it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.\u201d  Ten years, Gladwell says, is roughly how long it takes to put in 10,000 hours of hard practice.  For these Digital Natives it will only have taken them <em>five years<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Will every single one of these Digital Natives grow up to be top-notch experts?  <em>Of course not<\/em>.  \u201cBut in fact,\u201d Gladwell writes, \u201cthey are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways that others cannot.\u201d  For those who are given the chance to put in those hours and have the presence of mind to seize it, undoubtedly they will become masters of digital technologies.  But mastering the \u201cuse\u201d of digital technologies isn\u2019t enough, because they must <em>understand<\/em> the \u201crole\u201d it plays in their lives too.<\/p>\n<p>2.  <strong>Creative Destruction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From the perspective of media scholar Henry Jenkins, \u201cEducators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities.\u201d So, as we can see, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/09\/the-digital-dilemma-why-the-road-to-salivation-became-a-path-of-destruction.html\">the digital dilemma<\/a><\/strong> is two-fold.  On one hand, we must make smart choices and offer services that are more in step with the emerging social norms of Digital Natives.<\/p>\n<p>On the other, we need to prepare Digital Natives and other young people to become active participants in these participatory cultures.  Both are required if we hope to head toward a bright future in the digital age.  These sorts of Digital Natives have the potential to remake the culture of business in which many industries will all be operating in the future.  Instead of accepting the marketplace in which most commerce takes place today as \u201ca pre-existing condition of the universe,\u201d they may recognize the need to adjust the operating system to the needs of our society, where previous generations did the opposite.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>&#8220;their creative destruction will begin to look more constructive than it does today.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By means of <em>creative destruction<\/em>, a term coined by the late economist Joseph Schumpeter, who, \u201cdescribed capitalism as a process of incessantly destroying the old structure and creating a new one,\u201d those <em>born digital<\/em> will transform businesses and cause disruption in the short term.  \u201cThis disruption stems in part from their use of technology and their shifting relationship with information,\u201d Law Professors John Palfrey and Urs Gasser explain.  \u201cOver time, though, their creative destruction will begin to look more constructive than it does today.\u201d In due time, they will revitalize the industries that they challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Such is the case with file-sharing.  While it may destroy the value of record companies now, its entry into the market sparked the development of a whole new social ecology of music culture.  One which, despite its many <em>current<\/em> faults, could be the force that brings sustained long-term economic growth to those who prevail.  \u201cThis process is not new; this kind of creative destruction has repeated itself throughout history in the wake of disruptive technologies,\u201d they continue.  \u201cWhat\u2019s different here is that Digital Natives can cause this creative destruction on their own, without pausing to worry about the implications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As young entrepreneurs, if they have a big idea, they can implement it. Without the need to ask for permission, they can innovate and do so on their own terms.  \u201cAnd the revolution in information technologies is enabling them to carry out this destruction to occur at a shockingly rapid pace, in markets that span the globe,\u201d they conclude.  \u201cInnovation,\u201d William Patry further argues, \u201cthe root cause of creative destruction\u2014is thus the way capitalism survives on its own inherent tendency toward monopolization and stagnation, even as innovation is regarded as an existential threat to those who benefit from the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>3.  <strong>10,000 Hours<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em> What then<\/em> will the Digital Natives who happen to be at the highest end of the participation gap make of this combination of ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage that has been bestowed upon them?  We <em>don\u2019t<\/em> know.  Will the story of those who succeed in the 21st century be about those, \u201cwho were given a special opportunity to work really hard and seized it, and who happened to come of age at a time when extraordinary effort was rewarded by the rest of society?\u201d  Only <em>time<\/em> will tell us.  Still, there\u2019s more to it then providing access to the technology, teaching digital literacy, and encouraging active participation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>&#8220;Equally as important as this task before us lies within us the ability&#8230;&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cultivation of what Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardner calls the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/selfmadescholar.com\/b\/2009\/07\/15\/5-minds-for-the-future-cultivating-thinking-skills\/\">Five Minds for the Future<\/a><\/em> is a <strong>must<\/strong>.  These \u201cminds\u201d are what he describes as the disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful, and ethical.  To which he says, \u201cWe should be concerned with how to nurture these minds in the younger generation, those who are being educated currently to become the leaders of tomorrow.\u201d  Equally as important as this task before us lies within us the ability to not let tomorrow turn into another day.  Much time has already been wasted in trying to ensure that future looks <em>exactly<\/em> like the present, when in fact it is <em>not<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge the factors of globalization\u2014at least when they are called to our attention\u2014but have not figured out how to prepare youngsters so that they can survive and thrive in a world different from one ever known or even imagined before,\u201d Gardner writes.  <em>Why is that<\/em>?  Nassim Taleb contends in <em>The Black Swan<\/em>, \u201cOur human race is affected by a chronic underestimation of the possibility of the future straying from the course initially envisioned.\u201d People often disregard, he explains, that \u201ct<em>o understand the future to the point of being able to predict it, you need to incorporate elements from this future itself<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, it\u2019s critical that we not only focus on providing those with extraordinary talent, with extraordinary opportunities, but that we realize it&#8217;s within the best interest of all industries, all people, to help prepare those who are less fortunate.  \u201cThe sense of possibility so necessary for success comes not just from inside us or from our parents,\u201d Gladwell enlightens.  \u201cIt comes from our time:  from the particular opportunities that our place in history presents us with.\u201d  <em>Think about it<\/em>.  In 2021, at the age of twenty, these Digital Natives will have put in 10,000 hours on the Internet, not Facebook or Twitter, the <em>Internet<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1.2<\/strong> John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, <em>Born Digital<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>1.3<\/strong> Daniel Levitin, <em>This Is Your Brain On Music<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>1.4<\/strong> Malcolm Gladwell, <em>Outliers<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>2.1<\/strong> Henry Jenkins, <em>Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>2.2<\/strong> Douglas Rushkoff, <em>Economics Is Not a Natural Science<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>2.3<\/strong> Charles Wheelan, <em>Naked Economics<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>2.5<\/strong> William Patry, <em>Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>3.1<\/strong> Malcolm Gladwell,<em> Outliers<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Additional Reading<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/09\/the-digital-dilemma-why-the-road-to-salivation-became-a-path-of-destruction.html\">The Digital Dilemma: Finding a Path to Salvation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/06\/killing-itself-to-live-how-the-record-industry-conceived-its-own-demise.html\">Killing Itself to Live: How the Record Industry Conceived It\u2019s Own Demise<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/09\/cradle-to-grave-the-untold-story-of-digital-natives.html\">Cradle to Grave: The Untold Story of Digital Natives<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/08\/conditioned-to-steal-popular-music-and-obsolescence-in-america.html\">Conditioned To Steal: Popular Music and Obsolescence in America<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>First posted on: http:\/\/www.hypebot.com\/hypebot\/2009\/10\/minds-for-the-future-why-digital-immersion-matters.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;If we hope to head towards a bright future in the digital age, then, it begins with preparing Digital Natives and other young kids to help lead the way.&#8221; To be sure, the term \u201cDigital Native\u201d is misleading, because no two Digital Natives are created equal. Each of them has varying degrees of access to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-born-digital"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/digitalnatives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}