Do Digital Natives exist?

Yes, personally I believe that digital native’s exist. Digital Natives are defined as
“’native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”(Prensky, 2001). 

People who grew up in the 20^th or 21^st century are typically seen to be a digital native because they were exposed to technology at a very young age e.g. computers, laptops, smartphones etc. whereas people who grew up between 1940-1970 typically struggle to wrap their heads around the concept of technology and are therefore considered “Digital Immigrants”. (Prensky, 2001)

Digital Immigrant’s can be defined as people who were not born into the digital world but rather introduced to at a later stage of their life. They originally were conditioned to “old-school” type of life e.g. blackboards instead of interactive whiteboards/projectors and TV instead of YouTube or Facebook. 

In today’s era, young people especially are excelling at navigating themselves around a computer and are typically having to teach digital immigrants such as their parents and grandparents how to use the said devices. 

Digital native is a broad term for people who are particularly skilled in the technological aspect of life, not necessarily tech geniuses but have vital tech knowledge that can aid them for their future. 

Being a Digital Native is something that many companies look for when hiring, typically on resumes they make it clear that the applicant must have knowledge based around Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel for example. This is a prime example of Digital Native’s being recognised, hence proving their existence.

References:

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives Digital Immigrants retrieved from: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf

‘Baby Girl With Computer, Laptop, Mobile Phone.’ By Evgen Manenko, available at https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-baby-girl-computer-laptop-mobile-phone-image35536989