The tom-tom of the 'digital natives'

Carolina, Ester, Elisa and Mónica are sitting in a small office at the Lourdes school in Madrid. It is the last day of school before the Christmas holidays begin, the students run through the hallways, dressed in costumes. They are 17 years old, except Elisa, who is 16. They have been using the Internet since they were 11.

-My father is obsessed with words, he looks at encyclopedias all the time.

-Wow, my mother found out yesterday that the cell phone has a camera.

-I have had a cell phone since I was 12 years old.

-Well, I have changed my cell phone seven times since I was 12. If we continue at this rate, by the time I have children, cars are going to fly.

Carolina, Ester, Elisa and Mónica belong to the so-called generation of digital natives, a term coined by technologist Marc Prensky in 2001 and which groups together those for whom the Internet has existed since they can remember, those who do not remember life without the Internet. Scholars and many of the teachers who educate them say that this generation that has grown up with a cell phone in the left hand and a mouse in the right is very different from the previous ones.

The first digital natives Spaniards are now between 15 and 18 years old. They have grown up connected, with ADSL working at full capacity. They can't stand the wait, everything they want is just a click away away. They don't want to be told a story, they avoid the linear sequence of information, they want to intervene in the process, click to go where they are interested. They are not passive consumers of content, but active: they create content, they send each other videos, photos that they retouch, that they edit, they are very creative; That's why TV is starting to seem a little old to them, even if it's on a flat screen.

They come home, sit in front of the computer and while they connect with their network of friends, they watch a video on YouTube, they chat with friends while downloading a song or an episode of their favorite series. That is, they pay partial attention to several things at the same time. "Their attention is divided better, their brain has a more complex processor," explains Enrique Dans, professor of Information Systems at the Instituto de Empresa. He who is educated with languages ​​from a young age, learns other languages ​​very quickly. The same thing happens with technology.

Being teenagers, digital natives They handle devices that until recently were only within the reach of a 30-year-old person. 96% of young people have a mobile phone, according to the latest study by the Youth Institute (compared to 88,4% in 2004). And as Soledad González, a 57-year-old professor of Economics and History at Lourdes School, says, what she teaches to 17-year-old boys and girls is what she learned at the University.

The first digital natives, People born since the nineties are already arriving at the University. It is there, and in secondary education, where the convenience of adapting educational systems to new needs becomes evident. "The teacher is no longer the possessor of knowledge," explains Fernando García, chemistry teacher at the Irabia school in Pamplona and author of the book Educate interactive children. "There is a loss of authority of parents and teachers, you no longer ask dad or the teacher questions, because maybe they are the ones who don't know." The answers are searched on Google and YouTube. "The teacher cannot be a possessor of knowledge," García maintains, "he has to be a guide who helps distinguish truthful information from non-truthful information; he must be a type who accompanies the use of the media."

Ángel León, 56 years old, responds to the profile of what Prensky called a digital immigrant. That is, a person who was not born in that environment but who adapts to it. As a History teacher at Lourdes School, he no longer uses the blackboard. "I haven't gotten chalk on my hands in years," he says, sitting in a classroom, in front of his computer. "My chalk is this." And he pulls out an eight-speed USB key from under his shirt. gigabytes which he wore hanging around his neck. There are his lessons, which she updates at night when she gets home.

10 years ago, there was only one student in his class with an Internet connection. "In the last five years, it has become widespread and students have great computer skills. The educational structure is lagging behind." On screen, one of the animations that he uses to explain how the steam engine worked in the industrial revolution. "The animated image has a psychological effect, they cannot stop looking. 10 years ago, a masterful transmission was made, the truth was dictated and they memorized. Now we are in a transition phase, we are beginning to incorporate audiovisuals and the Internet into educational processes. We are entering a process of permanent adaptation and those who do not adapt will be the technological illiterate of the future."

Rubén Díaz is 17 years old and was already using a computer when he was seven. At 11 he started programming and in January he launched Jisko, a small social network. He says there is a big gap between parents and children, different languages ​​are spoken. "Parents think that the person who is in front of a computer is isolated, but one is more isolated in front of the television," he says. He is studying fourth year of ESO and does not understand how today he cannot consult his doubts via e-mail with teachers or why the teacher does not have a PDA (handheld computer) on which he could mark the absence of a student and instantly notify the parents. "The mentality of digital immigrants is that technology serves to work less," he maintains, "when in reality, it serves to save unnecessary work."

The small social network that Rubén has launched has 2.000 users and is similar to Twitter. In it, people tell in concise messages what they are doing, such as, "I'm going to the shower," or "today the kids are going to the theater." It is precisely the friend networks, such as Facebook, Tuenti and MySpace, that are introducing the latest changes in the behavioral patterns of users. digital natives. The mobilizations, whether to protest against the approval of Bologna studies or to celebrate "university New Year's Eve", are called with the gigantic loudspeaker of the networks of friends: last weekend, Puerta del Sol was filled with young people who The grapes were taken two weeks in advance.

Susana and Tamara were there, two 18-year-old girls studying Advertising at the Complutense University of Madrid. They say that as soon as they get home, the first thing they do is connect to their network of friends.

"It's a vice," says Tamara. Susana opens her page. Today she has three private messages, nine invitations to events and two comments on photos that one of her friends has posted. strung up. The page says it has 449 photos, of which she has uploaded 94, and who has 117 friends. "Well, of all those, friends friends, "There are very few," he says.

Tamara says that she uses email less and less, with her network of friends it is enough to communicate. That she has stopped watching television because it no longer entertains her, she prefers to know what her friends are up to. She assures that the Internet allows her to be in contact with many more people and that she learns much better about all of their lives from the photos that appear. hanging. "It's true that there comes a time when you no longer know what to talk to people about because you already know everything about them, the magic is lost a little," he assumes. Of course, to flirt, friend networks are quite a tool. Young people between 14 and 19 years old are the ones who stay connected to the Internet the longest, according to the latest Youth Report 2008: 61,41% of boys and 53,69% of girls spent more than two hours a day. Percentages that are reduced by half in those over 30 years of age.

Professor Soledad González says that students have more information, but that their analyzes tend to be more superficial. Mar Monsoriu, a technology consultant and expert in the Internet, goes further. "They are a little more comfortable than the previous generation. It is the cut-and-paste generation, the Internet gives them everything ready-made and they have lost the ability to study, research, and reflect." Monsoriu, 46, has been working with the Internet for 17 years and specializes in marketing technological. Author of Manual of social networks on the Internet, think that the digital natives They do not handle digital tools as well as they seem. "They are a little stunned, they don't realize that the photos they post can be seen by third parties," she declares. The companies that hire them may have access to see them, which can harm them, she explains. She says that a few months ago, a couple from Valencia asked her for advice after seeing some photos of her 13-year-old daughter in a provocative position. there weren't strung up her, but a girl who had published them on the Internet under a false identity. Networks of friends also serve to settle scores. And for gossip. And to accommodate a paparazzi new generation in which photos are taken and published without filters or without the consent of those photographed.

Mar Monsoriu signed up for 50 social networks around the world to prepare his book, and discovered that some sell their users' databases to advertising companies. marketing and advertising. "The business is there," confirms Professor Fernando García, "it is advertising Diana, know where you're aiming." In friend networks, the user gives information such as their name, age, the city where they live, the places they go out. Brands can go directly to their potential client. "I work in marketing", adds Monsoriu, "but the fundamental thing is that there is consent on the part of the consumer."

Juan Freire, blogger and an expert in digital culture, says that young people must be accompanied in the use of new technologies. But access to them cannot be prevented, they are part of their culture. Fernando García recommends the use of a laptop, other than su console, nor su computer, that the computer belongs to the family. Of course, granting them some privacy.

"Young people and companies must be prepared for permanent uncertainty," declares Rafael López Castejón, author of the blog Digital natives: "There is no university or company that is prepared for the pace of changes that occur among adolescents."