Dec 29, 2014
"It is an accepted belief now that our students are all homo sapiens digitalis. They grew up with computers and therefore are naturally adept at using them, right? By the same logic, we could say that anyone born in the West after about 1850 is a "textual native," with the rise of mass media meaning everyone over the last 150 years has been surrounded by the written word. (A moment’s consideration of the persistence of illiteracy should put that concept to bed.) If the existence of technology prior to one’s birth conferred a particular affinity for it, there wouldn’t be so many lousy drivers on the road. After all, everyone alive today was born after the advent of the Model T."