Visitors & Residents by David S. White

The video, Visitors and Residents by David S. White discusses some very interesting concepts surrounding digital visitors and digital residents.  In education, many of us are consumed with this misconceived notion that our students are going to eventually "pass us old folks up" because we believe they fully understand the uses of technology and have grown up in the ever expanding digital age.  The video disproves this misnomer and instead, creates a clearer concept of digital residents vs. visitors.  In fact, the concept of digital proficiency has nothing to do with age.  Digital proficiency has more to do with personal beliefs, interests and personality than it does with age.  Digital rresident's live a portion of their lives on the web and in the social media platforms in order to communicate with prexisting friends.  They thrive on the attention and communication with others and enjoy the visibility established as digital residents or "micro-celebrities".  The visitor, according to White, is much like a person with a job to do who will rummage around the tool box for a while, get the job done, and leave.  The visitor doesn't spend time getting to know people through social medias and simply doesn't see the connection to these platforms as a way of learning.  The visitor may see personal privacy as greater value than the resident and in addition, may feel content with their established friendships. 

An interesting concept that White discussed in the video was that just because someone understands the use of technology, it does not necessarily make that person any wiser or more intelligent.  This resonated with me as we oftentimes link intelligence with digital proficiency in education.  I think we do this because we are so mindful of the magical "21st Century skills" that all students need to know and if we can find someone who understands these skills, they must be smart!  In reality, most of us don't know what these "skills" look like .  Therefore, if you are technologically savoy, you must understand these hidden skills that everyone talks about which makes you much wiser than the rest of us!  This obviously is not true. 

As an educator, I believe in staying current and thrive at any opportunity to become more proficient with technology.  However, personally, I err more on the side of privacy which lends me more toward being a visitor in the digital age. A topic that did not come up during the video is how access may hinder digital residency status. I have worked with several teachers, some of which were fresh out of college, and it was brutally apparent that lack of access to technology had hindered their ability to perform simple digital functions.  I have had the same experience with students who were very proficient with technology because of their access to it growing up in comparison to those who fumble around with it due to a lack of background.  I understand that the person without access can learn to use the tools available although, how does that impact their status as a visitor vs. a resident? 

On a final note, I am glad that video discussed "Twitter for Idiots".  As I find myself fumbling around with Twitter and trying to learn it, I now understand that one just has to use it and explore it before fully learning it.  I must get better at this and hopefully I will eventually learn how to "feed the machine"!