A 24-year-old associate builds a slick client deck in an hour. It looks great. Later, a colleague notices that three of its numbers come from a blog that made them up. We often assume that people who grew up with smartphones learn in a whole new way. Researchers who checked found that they learn much like the rest of us.
The idea goes back to 2001, when writer Marc Prensky coined the term "digital natives" in two widely read essays. Schools and corporate academies liked it, and it is easy to see why: it gave a simple name to something everyone could observe.
In 2017, education researchers Paul Kirschner and Pedro De Bruyckere looked at the studies. Their conclusion: being at ease with devices helps with the tools, and finding, judging and using information is a separate skill that grows with practice.¹
That is good news, because it means we can teach it: how to check a source, when to stop searching, what makes an answer usable.
Talent Takeaway
It reminds us to plan learning around the task, whatever the birth year. A simple habit for any team: before a number goes into a client deck, one colleague asks "Where does this come from?" Junior colleagues pick it up fast, and seniors enjoy the refresher.
¹ Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.06.001