In a really interesting (but rather LOOOONG) article, a professor from Penn State University describes the characteristics of the "Thumb Generation" -or thumb tribe- and its implications for schools of engineering. Are you part of that generation? Have you ever heard the term "digital native"?I myself am a "digital immigrant". I grew up watching TV, listening to the radio and using tape recorders. I got my first personal computer when I was 28, a rather big IBM my husband and I had while we were doing our master´s in Boston. Fifteen years later we started using dial-up Internet mostly for e-mails.
According to an article by Ericsson phone company: "the first digital natives are now in their early 20s and have, typically, already sent and received 250,000 e-mails, instant messages, and text messages, used a mobile phone for 10,000 hours, played video games for 5000 hours and spent 3500 hours social networking online."I found this article in Spanish about a possible "physical mutation" in our fingers!!! Here is some information in English.
How about you? Did you play video games as a child? Do you still do? How many fingers do you use to send a message on your cell? How many do you use to type in a computer keyboard? Can you type without looking at the keys but just the screen? Can you multitask (study with the TV, music and/or messenger on while talking to a friend on the phone)? How often do you chat?
Are you a digital native, a digital immigrant or something in-between?
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