In Digital Native, Digital Immigrants, Marc Prensky asks, “What should we call these ‘new’ students of today? . . . the most useful designation I have found for them is Digital Natives.” Today’s young people have never lived in a time without Internet access. Prensky created the term digital natives to describe these young people. This term is meant to describe a young generation that is quite familiar with and proficient at using digital media. However, this is not always true. Mary Ann Harlan discusses this problem with calling the younger generation digital natives in her essay Deconstructing Digital Natives. This metaphor conveys a full competency with technology, when many young people lack what Harlan calls digital literacy. She maintains …show more content…
Harlan uses logos to strongly back select parts of her argument, mostly in the form of statistics. The statistics she uses may be true, but her weakness in logos lies in where she chooses to use them. To illustrate that American teens are “tech-savvy,” she gives statistics showing their access and exposure to technology. However, this point does not support her argument that teens are not discerning Internet users or that they are not digital natives. She also addresses concerns about cyberbullying, but cites a study showing the majority of teens believe , which would seem to dampen her concerns. She does not cite statistics in those areas which would serve to strengthen her …show more content…
The tone of her argument is serious, and she keeps the argument formal. She is not sarcastic even when criticizing Prensky’s views. Her argument is about a subject that would interest not only people in her field, but students and their parents as well. The use of digital technology by young people is a popular current concern and most parents would be interested in learning whether or not their children are being equipped with the skills they will need to do research in college. Most parents are also concerned about their children's safety and privacy while they are online and would agree with Doctor Harlan that young people do not always understand online risks and need to be taught Internet safety. Her target audience would agree that students need to learn about copyright issues. She addresses both these concerns when she states “Today’s youth need to understand the opportunities of the online environment(Livingstone,2008); however, they also need to understand the risks (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008).” Dr Harlan does a good job explaining what she thinks the youth of today need to help them make safe and effective use of digital media. She effectively makes her audience feel like a part of the solution to the problems associated with thinking of young people as digital natives when she says “Teacher librarians are particularly well located to challenge the myth and help youth become