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sense thinking is uncritical, episodic, and disjointed, but it is also powerful because it is
taken for granted”. Thus whilst the past ten years have undoubtedly witnessed
significant changes in the technological practices and predilections of children, young
people and young adults, it would seem sensible to reconsider the status of the ‘digital
native’ description as a prima facie account of young people’s lives in the early twenty-
first century. In particular, there is a pressing need to develop and promote realistic
understandings of young people and digital technology if information professionals
(especially librarians, teachers and other information specialists) are to play useful and
meaningful roles in supporting current generations of young people. Against this
background the present paper now goes on to question the accuracy and primacy of the
‘digital native literature’ in reflecting the realities of young people’s actual engagements
with digital media and technology.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIGITAL NATIVE DISCOURSE
We should first examine in closer detail the broad body of work that can be said to
constitute the digital native literature1, particularly in terms of how the conditions,
capabilities and consequences of young people’s technology use are portrayed. In this
sense, there are a number of differing practices and dispositions that are associated with
the digital native condition:
i) T
