Digital Overboard

In his article, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Marc Prensky brings up some valid concerns as to the ways the youth of today approach and exist in the world they live in. He attributes what he calls a "singularity" or fundamental change, to a rapid dissemination of digital technology that has taken place over the last two decades. He tells us that today's average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, yet have spent more than 10,000 hours playing video games, and even more than that watching TV (20,000 hours). He warns us that today's students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors which he dubs, "Digital Immigrants." These young people, our students today, he calls "Digital Natives," and he supposes that their brains have formed differently from the "Digital Immigrants" as a result of the digital media they were exposed to as they grew up.
Prensky cautions us that "Digital Immigrants" speak an outdated language and are struggling to teach a population that speaks and entirely new language. These "Digital Natives" are said to be "used to receiving their information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task." Even more humorous to me is that they prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite (didn't we all prefer the books with lots of pictures before we learned to get the real meaning out of reading?). He also says that they thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards.
Prensky points out a very real need for educators to be available to communicate with students on a more accessible level to their receptivity. He states that smart adult immigrants accept that they don't know about this digital native world and learn to have kids help them integrate while the not-so-smart immigrants just complain and reminisce. On this point I agree with the author. I think that it is important to learn to communicate with the youth on a level that seems different to the more mature and "older generation." However, I don't feel like we should pander to some irresponsible desire to have gratification at our fingertips and have everything be a contrived computer game. I will even agree that creating games to help people learn material can be valuable. I believe there should still be an understanding of our origins and the true value of the natural world. Technology is great and can be an awesome tool for learning, science, medicine, etc.. The outcome of catering to a desire for instant gratification and educating students to learn on a level that Prensky presents so urgently seems detrimental to me. I believe it would create a world of selfish, impatient, and petulant people. I agree that "Immigrants" should learn the language and be understanding of the differences in media available today. I do feel, however that an amount of slowing down is necessary for true knowledge and clear understanding of our world, it's processes, and inter-relationships. Perhaps that makes me a cave man but hey, I'm responding with my honest opinion.
Thanks for reading,
Michael Warncke