It is a typical household scene: A parent or grandparent asks their technology-savvy child to help them use a smartphone, laptop, or camera.<\/p>\n
But the common idea that millennials are more technologically capable than their elders is in fact a myth, according to a new study, telegraph.co.uk wrote.<\/p>\n
A review paper published in the journal Teaching and Teacher Education found that \u2018information-savvy digital natives do not exist\u2019.<\/p>\n
The study challenged the increasingly popular idea that those born before 1980 are \u2018digital immigrants; doomed to be imposters in a computer-based land \u2014 whilst those born after 1980 are \u2018digital natives\u2019.<\/p>\n
Instead, the study likens the myth of the below 35-year-old digital native to a \u2018yeti with a smartphone\u2019.<\/p>\n
Paul Kirschner, a professor of educational psychology at the Open University of the Netherlands and coauthor of the paper, argued that the myth of the tech-savvy teenager is damaging children\u2019s education, as schools rush to adapt their teaching styles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to treat people as human, cognitive learners and stop considering one specific group to have special powers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The paper built on a 2011 review for the Higher Education Academy in York, which found that many young people use technology in the same way as their parents: To \u2018passively soak up information\u2019.<\/p>\n
The paper went on to criticize the push in schools to adapt teaching styles to match young people’s supposed love for technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren say they prefer IT in their lessons and courses,\u201d the paper wrote, \u201cdo schools listen when kids say they prefer chips for lunch every day?\u201d<\/p>\n
The study comes two months after a report for the insurance industry argued that millennials are unlike all generations that have come before, and must therefore be sold car insurance in a different way.<\/p>\n
The report, Targeting Millennials with Insurance, said that digital-savvy young people should be targeted with \u2018technologically innovative insurance policies\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is a typical household scene: A parent or grandparent asks their technology-savvy child to help them use a smartphone, laptop, or camera. But the common idea that millennials are more technologically capable than their elders is in fact a myth, according to a new study, telegraph.co.uk wrote. A review paper published in the journal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[140,139,61],"yoast_head":"\n