Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd sets out to debunk various stereotypes that silo Web users into several distinct categories, including "technology-baffled grannies," "pale-skinned gaming addicts," and
young "digital natives." First off, "There's nothing native about young people's engagement with technology," insists Boyd, who has made a career out of studying the way younger people use the Web,
and denounced the popular belief that kids are innately better at coping with the Web or negotiating the hurdles of digital life.
"Young people are learning; they're learning about the
social world around them," she says. "The social world around them today has mediated technologies, thus in order to learn about the social world they're learning about the mediated technologies."
Read the whole story at The Guardian (UK) »
