Allie Osmar › Comments

I'll raise my hand on this one - Allie Osmar from Alert Thingy

Diana - I don't necessarily agree. The classroom has always played a large role as well. I'm 23, and computers have been a regular part of the classroom since I was in second grade. - Allie Osmar from Alert Thingy

Sorry Rob - I read you name wrong on that one. - Allie Osmar from Alert Thingy

Allie, the name problem happens all the time. Computers in the classroom are an interesting point, but I am not sure if we can really use them as an example. In the US, they are typically a function of income within a school district. - Rob Diana

Rob raises some good points. - Jeremiah Owyang

i moved there before 1980 - Dave Winer

I was using computers when I was in seventh grade and I was born in 1965. - Robert Scoble

83! Sweet nativity. :) - vimoh from fftogo

+1 Rob. I was born in 1991, and there were/are no computers in my classrooms - the function of income is kinda true. - Yuvi

You young punks get off my Commodore 64! - John Craft

just a few months before 80 - Gen X & Y both - and teaching all how to be native online - Courtney Engle from twhirl

+Robert you were the exception. The majority of your peers are still struggling with where the on-switch is. ( I can say this.. I was born in 1956.) My kids are " digital natives" and while my daughter(ne 1983) is very dialed in, my son (ne: 1986) is not leading me to believe it is more then age, economics or environment. - Lorraine Ball

I forgot to mention, I was born in 1972 and started using a RadioShack TRS-80 in 6th grade I believe. - Rob Diana

Born in 1968, and was using computers starting in late 70s, taught myself Basic ona TRS-80II w/ 8-inch floppy, blah-blah blah. that siad, i do believe in the "digital native" philospohy. PCs were only started to come into widespred use when I graduated HS in 1986. I'm not sure where to put the date on the Immoigrant divide-- maybe a little earlier than 1980- but it is a valid distinction. perhaps there is an in-between "punchcard-to-TRS-80 to Commodore 64" generation that needs to be defined. - Doug Haslam from twhirl

right-- please excuse typos. Yikes - Doug Haslam from twhirl

Immigrant. - Abbas Haider Ali

Interesting that this is similar (1980 date) to Fourth Turning's Millennial Generation - Justin Long

I'm using an dicotomy of four: dig.im+analogue values, dig.im+digital values, dig.nat+analogue values and dig.nat+digital values - Niclas Strandh from feedalizr

Ok - like, see... my *daughter* was born in 1980. She thinks she knows, you know, like everything about computers? Oh, and ok, my grandson? well, he was born in 1998 (yeah, I mean - so don't ask) and like, he has a knack for them, ok? He'll troubleshoot the broadband router and reboot the switches to make sure we stay on line. I mean, what 10 year old doesn't do that these days? I know, right? And I just just keep installing Linux hoping it'll get better, ok? But I know it's just for old timers like me. - Dan McGinn-Combs

@Dan: the know how of the technology is not what defines digital natives. They are born with it - it should work, period. The geeks are immigrants. - Niclas Strandh from feedalizr

Born 1981 here, and my high school class is definitely a mixed bag in terms of adoption. There are plenty of us who are online all the time, but just as many who aren't. - Daniel J. Pritchett

Born 1981 and didn't truly start getting into computers until 2004. I've come a long way in 4 years though! Can build a computer and am pretty proficient on particular software programs and databases. - David Cook

re: digital native, i think author has a point it's good not to be entirely digital and lose benefits of the old ways! - Jamie Lin

60's flower child born in 1968 that immediately embraced programming on my shiny TRS-80! Atari 2600 was my other toy. Had x86 architecture machines the minute they were available. Used online BBS services to conduct my research in college (not cheap - same stuff is now free online). My niece had a PC in kindergarten...so, her world is very different than mine, yet I am far more techie and web savvy than she is (asks me how to do stuff online... hehehehe!) - Susan Beebe

1971 - RAPatton

Digital generation has nothing to do with age, it has all to do with attitude. - Bora Zivkovic

I was using computers when I was nine and played video games at least 3 years before that. I consider myself to be a digital native. Was born in 1971. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

Born in '79. Was part of the Eagle Program in NY in elementary, which gave my broke ass access to an Apple IIe and the LogoWriter programming language. Moved to GA and got into the Magnet program, which meant I had a computer on my desk for 6th/7th grade. By this time, grandma got me a 286 for xmas. I taught myself assembler/machine code/pascal/basica/qbasic...whatever I could get my hands on. C was like the holy grail. Then came Linux...all written in C and all free as in beer. - Rahsheen the Dream

Just so happens that mom, born in 60, got a degree in computers of some sort, so that probably had a major affect on my access to computers. Good for her because I helped her pass C++ when she went back to get her second degree. - Rahsheen the Dream

I think this claim is a tad premature considering not all 80's students had access to computers. Now those born in the 90's thats another story. It is a thought provoking concept. Having been born in 1970 I have been working with computers for ALONG time. There aren't many people born after 1970 who will admit to programming FORTRAN with punch cards and working with other archaic computers. I revel in being an old timer but I still don't consider myself one. - Jim Goldstein

born in '72, computer in the house since '83, been online (BBS) since '86 prodigy in '88. we had 3 computers in our classrooms when i was in 3rd grand in KC. moved to the burbs of los angeles in '81 and have always had computers either in the classroom or in a room at the school. husband was born in '70 came to the US from romania in '80, he's always had computers since he's lived in this country. - Anika

1961 - MoTO Gutter Bumbershoot