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Digital Natives Do Not Exist, Claims New Paper
A paper argues that the younger generation is no better at technology and multitasking than older people.
01 August, 2017
Austin Wierschke (left) and Kent Augustine compete in the final round of the Sixth Annual LG Mobile U.S. National Texting Championships on August 8, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">People born after 1984 are considered <strong>“digital natives” </strong>- those to whom digital technology should be second nature. It’s that kid who knows more about computers than you ever did. But taken as a whole, digital natives might be a myth, argues a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X16306692?via%3Dihub" target="_blank"><span class="s2">paper</span></a> published in </span><span class="s2"><em>Teaching and Teacher Education. </em>Students who grew up in the digital world are no better at information skills simply because they were born into such an era. The study also presents evidence that these supposed “digital natives” are no better at multitasking either. In fact, assuming that they do may harm their education.<span> </span></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2">The term “digital native” was popularized by the author <strong>Marc Prensky</strong> in a <a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf"><span class="s3">2001 article.</span></a> He differentiated between “digital natives” as those who are “native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet, and<strong> “digital immigrants”</strong> - those who are not born into the digital world but adopt the technology. The natives are supposed to </span><span class="s4">have unique characteristics that make them completely different from the digital immigrants.<span> </span></span> </p> <p class="p3"><span class="s5">Authors <strong>Paul A. Kirschner</strong> from the Open University of the Netherlands in Heerlen and Belgian <strong>Pedro De Bruyckere</strong> say no such distinction really exists. They cite a growing number of international studies that show how students born after 1984 do not have any </span><span class="s2">deeper knowledge of technology. The knowledge they have is often limited and consists of having basic office suite skills, emailing, text messaging, Facebooking and surfing the Internet.</span><span class="s5"> And the tech they use for </span><span class="s2">learning and socialization is also not very expansive. They do not necessarily recognize the advanced functionality of the applications they use and need to be significantly trained to use the technology properly for learning and problem-solving. When using technology for learning, the “natives” mainly resort to passively consuming information.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s2">The paper’s authors also conclude that there is little scientific proof that digital natives can successfully do many things at once in a way that’s different from previous generations. For example, reading text messages during lecture would have the cognitive cost of not being fully focused on the class. Similarly, a 2010 study cited by the researchers found that high-intensity Facebook users were not able to master content well and had significantly lower GPAs.</span> </p> <div class="video-full-card-placeholder" data-slug="emma-seppala-on-meditation-and-productivity" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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</div> <p>Being comfortable with digital technology does not imply special multitasking prowess. At best, the supposed “natives” may be good at <strong>“task-switching” </strong>- ability to quickly switch between different tasks. Multi-tasking, by and large, is a myth. </p> <p class="p5"><span class="s6">The researchers think that in education policy, in particular, it is imperative to not assume that the next generation is more digitally savvy just by default, changing the curriculum accordingly. The authors cite a 2011 EU Kids Online report that found </span><span class="s4">“children knowing more than their parents has been exaggerated”. In fact, assuming that the kids are digital natives might take away the support they actually </span><span class="s6">need to develop necessary digital skills. What the authors advocate is teaching the importance of focus and eliminating the negative effects of multitasking.<span> </span></span></p>
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Controversial New Theory That Says There's No Gravity or Dark Matter Passes Its First Test
Physicist Erik Verlinde's theory successfully predicts the distribution of gravity around 33,000+ galaxies without relying on unobserved "dark matter".
21 December, 2016
Dutch theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde has been shaking up the physics world with his controversial theory of “emergent gravity”, which sees gravity not as a fundamental force but rather as a force that comes into existence as a result of microscopic changes in the spacetime’s structure. Verlinde came out with this theory in 2010, taking on the laws of Newton and calling gravity “an illusion”. In 2016, his follow-up paper argued that there is also no mysterious “dark matter” in existence, which is supposed to (along with dark energy) make up to 95% of the universe but has so far not been detected.
<p>Now a team of Dutch astronomers, led by Margot Brouwer from Leiden Observatory, has tested one aspect of Verlinde’s theory and found that it actually worked!</p> <p>Brouwer’s team relied on the effect of “gravitational lensing” to test Verlinde’s prediction of gravity distribution around 33,000+ galaxies. Planets closer to Earth tend to bend light that's coming from planets farther away, thus creating a lens effect. This can be used to establish a galaxy's mass.</p> <p>Normally, <a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-12-verlinde-theory-gravity.html" target="_blank">at distances that are up to a hundred times</a> the radius of the galaxy, Einstein’s theory of gravity actually doesn’t account for the strength of the force of gravity. The existence of the hypothetical dark matter is invoked to make the numbers work. But Verlinde’s theory actually predicts how much gravity there would be without relying on dark matter, using only the mass of the visible matter. </p> <p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODQwOTI5Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTUyNjc4NX0.C8rg1f4dNUelHKxL_Uk2hIJzUmu_pSypbw5uDJO8gys/img.png?width=980" id="5bacb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="de204bc40deccb666976852d293aa61a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p><em>Measuring the distribution of gravity using gravitational lensing. Credit: APS/Alan Stonebraker; galaxy images from STScI/AURA, NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team</em></p> <p>Brouwer used Verlinde’s theory to calculate a prediction for the gravity of <strong>33,613</strong> galaxies and found that it compares well with the numbers from the measurements via gravitational lensing. The scientist cautions, however, that dark matter could still be an explanation for the additional gravitational force but as a free, unobserved parameter. The trouble with "free parameters" is that <span>they can be tweaked to adjust for differences between observations and hypotheses.</span></p> <blockquote>
<p>"The dark matter model actually fits slightly better with the data than Verlinde’s prediction," <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2116446-first-test-of-rival-to-einsteins-gravity-kills-off-dark-matter/" target="_blank"><span>Brouwer explained to the <em>New Scientist</em></span></a>. "But then if you mathematically factor in the fact that Verlinde’s prediction doesn’t have any free parameters, whereas the dark matter prediction does, then you find Verlinde’s model is actually performing slightly better.</p>
</blockquote> <p>As this test only looks at the validity of Verlinde’s theory in a very specific situation, more work needs to be done to prove its worth more broadly. </p> <blockquote>
<p>"The question now is how the theory develops, and how it can be further tested. But the result of this first test definitely looks interesting, “ <a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-12-verlinde-theory-gravity.html" target="_blank"><span>said Brouwer</span></a>.</p>
</blockquote> <p>Watch her explain her approach and work here:</p> <p class="flex-video"><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="60c5cc38bf67971fe29509a774b4d2de"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c_a2jWYk8A0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span></p> <p>The results will be published in the <em>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</em>. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.03034" target="_blank">You can read the paper online here.</a></p> <p><em>COVER PHOTO: Former Microsoft software developer Charles Simonyi flies during a parabolic flight aboard a zero-gravity simulator, a Russian IL-76 MDK aircraft used for astronauts' training flights in weightlessness, in Star City outside Moscow, 26 February 2007. (Photo credit: MAXIM MARMUR/AFP/Getty Images)</em></p>
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Dutch May Allow Assisted Suicide for Non-Terminally Ill Patients
Already a euthanasia pioneer, being the first to legalize it in 2002, the Netherlands may allow for the assisted suicide of older people who feel as if they’ve “completed life”.
14 October, 2016
Keizersgracht, one of the city of Amsterdam's three main canals. (Photo credit should read JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Already a euthanasia pioneer, being the first to legalize it in 2002, the Netherlands may allow for the assisted suicide of older people who feel as if they’ve “completed life”. These people would not have to be terminally ill and could even be healthy.
<p class="p1">The previous Dutch euthanasia law looked to help people who were incurable and living with terrible daily pain. This time, health and justice ministers look to help people who “<span class="s1">have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete," and "must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner <a href="https://bigthink.rebelmouse.com/videos/how-to-die-well-3">dignified for them</a>”.</span> </p> <p class="p4">While the euthanasia policy has the support of the Dutch public, with <strong>5,516</strong> deaths via euthanasia in 2015 (<strong>3.9%</strong> of all nationwide deaths), some see a slippery slope. They look at the initial assisted suicide law and point out that there has already been an extension of the boundaries of what was supposed to be “unbearable suffering” to now include mental diseases and dementia. A new policy to institutionalize a rather vague “completed life” criteria is sure to have even more detractors. The expressed reason for the new law, according to the ministers, is that “a request for help (in dying) from people who suffer unbearably and have no hope without an underlying medical reason can be a legitimate request".</p> <div class="video-callout-placeholder" data-slug="almost-everyone-should-be-allowed-to-kill-themselves" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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</div> <p class="p4">Bioethicist and writer <a href="http://bigthink.com/experts/jacobappel">Jacob Appel</a> told Big Think that a person should have the right to end their own life, so long as they can prove that they are thinking rationally over a prolonged period of several days.</p> <p class="p4"><span><span class="s2">To establish limitations, Edith Schippers, health minister, wrote that “</span>because the wish for a self-chosen end of life primarily occurs in the elderly, the new system will be limited to" them. These could be people with low mobility and lack of independence, lonely people or those suffering with “deterioration and loss of personal dignity.”<br></span></p> <p class="p4">Critics have, however, seized on the fact that the minimum age has not yet been established. How old do you have to be to have ‘completed” your life? Critics also point out that perhaps the government should focus on addressing loneliness instead.</p> <p class="p4">Geert Wilders, a populist politician, argues that there should be limits on the kind of liberalism and tolerance practiced in the Netherlands. </p> <blockquote><p class="p4">“We cannot allow people who are needy or lonely to be talked into dying,” <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/world/europe/dutch-law-would-allow-euthanasia-for-healthy-elderly-people.html" target="_blank">he told the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant.</a> “Combating loneliness — and investing in dignity and focusing on our elderly — is always the best option.”</p></blockquote> <p class="p4">Understandably, Christian groups have also joined in with criticism, saying that the law would amount to sanctioning murder by the state.</p> <p class="p3">Who will administer this program? A carefully vetted “’death assistance provider' with a medical background, who has also been given additional training". There would also be third-party checks and additional supervision. </p> <p class="p4">The Dutch look to have the law drafted by the end of 2017, after consultations with experts. </p> <p class="p4">Assisted suicide is currently prohibited in all U.S. states, but medical aid in dying is authorized in Washington, Vermont, Montana and California. </p> <p class="p4">Besides Netherlands, physician-assisted suicide is allowed in Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.</p> <p class="p4">--</p>
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