One can only hope that the concept “Digital Natives” will soon be laid to rest. Or at least all the ideas about what they can do.

A digital native is a person that grows up in the digital age, in contrast to digital immigrants, that got their familiarity with digital systems as an adult.

And there are differences. Digital natives assumes that everything is online. Stuff that is not online does not exist. Their first instinct is digital.

However, in the library world, and a lot of other places, the idea has been, that digital natives, because they have never experienced a world without computers, groks them. That they just know how to use them, and how to use them in a responsible and effective way.

That is, with a technical term, bovine feces. And for far too long, libraries (and others) have ignored the real needs, assuming that there was now suddenly no need for instruction in IT-related issues. Becase digital natives.

Being a digital native does not mean that you know how to code.

Being a digital native does not mean that you know how to google efficiently.

Being a digital native does not mean that you are magically endowed with the ability to discern fake news from facts.

I my self is a car native. I have grown up in an age where cars were ubiquitous. And I still had to take the test twice before getting my license. I was not able to drive a car safely, just because I have never known a world without cars. Why do we assume that a digital native should be able to use a computer efficiently?