Eszter Hargittai is an assistant professor of communications studies and sociology at The Beloved Alma Mater, and she has done a survey of her undergrad students that concludes that the fine young men and women in college today aren’t as web-savvy as we all tend to assume.
She tells the Chronicle of Higher Education that many college freshmen lack a basic understanding of many concepts and the terminology associated with online activities, especially if they come from typically “disadvantaged” demographic groups. As a group, they lend far too much credence to information they find online; she specifically mentions the wide-eyed looks she gets when she tells them that Wikipedia is not authortiative. I also got a kick out of this quote:
How can you legitimately stand in front of a classroom when the students have an assumption that they know more about technology than you? At the beginning of my classes, I tell my students, “I know you don’t think I know as much as you because I’m older. I assure you, I know way more than you guys about this.” And they sort of smile, but by the end of the class they realize I’m right.
(The original paper is available here if you’re interested)
One reason they might not be as knoweldgeable about online technology and terminology is because they’re too freakin’ busy playing “Guitar Hero” all the time. Seriously, dude, go to class once in a while.
Hargittai has published a similar study looking at differences in self-assessment of technology skills between men and women (men and women are mostly equal skill-wise, but women underestimate their abilities), and has also written about social networking websites and search engines.
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I run into this all the time. Try living in my 52 year old female shoes and see how stupid young people assume I am about technology. It is frustrating and infuriating.