Prensky is Dangerous

Prensky is Dangerous   

I think that Prensky's tech "immigrant" and "native" position is dangerous, not just for the obvious offense reasons. As adults, it is our responsibility to protect children by providing boundaries so that they can safely explore the world. Tech is a tool, not a place. The idea that adults can never understand this world leaves our children vulnerable. I didn’t initially make the connection between Prensky and the image of evolution leading to the computer, but I remember when his ideas and this image were first splashed all over the news. It was shown with limited commentary- his ideas stated fact before the next story flashed on the screen. I didn’t think much of it at the time (which was the point), but now I see this as nothing more than marketing for the self-important tech bros in Silicon Valley. It’s the same narrative as the idea that AI’s world domination is an inevitability.

Also, the image below is not how people’s brains work. This is about what we have access to and what we prioritize. 

Spiegel’s rebuttal is important because it categorizes the use of technology into the reasons someone might use that tool. My only disagreement with her terms is that words like “socialize” are tied to identity, which is often singular and fixed, when in reality humans sometimes use tech to socialize, sometimes to work, sometimes to game. Siphoning these tools in these ways reinforces Prensky’s idea that technology is a boxed-in identity, and that our ability to understand it is limited by something as simple as the year we were born. If tech is something that we believe is inaccessible or frightening, we are unable to protect our kids from the very grown adults who are using these tools to target them with predatory sexualization, relentless marketing, and hateful propaganda.