My Digital Map: Am I a buyer or a renter on the internet? Depends on the tax rate...

When I began teaching in 2011, the “digital native vs digital immigrant” conversation was happening, if not necessarily using those terms.  At that time, there were no teachers who were digital natives, as the youngest of us (myself included) still had a semblance of what the analog world was like without the internet.  The digital natives we spoke of were our students.  I started my career in Chicago Public Schools, phones weren’t as ubiquitous in the population I worked with in the early 2010s.  Many demographic groups were still being priced out as iPhone didn’t even hit all carriers until 2013 and.  It wasn’t until about 2013-2015, where we saw that phone ownership and usage reached over 50% of the population and download speeds were less than ½ of what they are today. 

Image Source: Consumer Affairs

Suffice it to say, I clearly remember my 8th grade class of 2016 as being the first group of students whom I would call “digital natives.”  They had a relationship with the communities of the internet, sometimes tighter than those in their classroom or neighborhood.  Students who would have otherwise been left on the “fringes” without anyone to connect with within the building had more life in their step.  They had friends they spoke of online (whether their parents knew of them or not), and they had a community in which they connected with.  Snaphcat had reached over 100M users, and they were in my classroom. 

SnapChat usage over time
Image Source: Business of Apps

Since then, the language has changed a bit, but the intentions feel similar. David White has coined the terms “visitors and residents” rather than “immigrants and natives,” but as we see in this Psychology Today article from 2014, the vibe is the same.  Visitors get what they need from the internet.  They achieve their tasks and move on with their lives, rarely engaging.  Residents are contributors to the internet and the communities therewithin.  

Who am I? 

Here is my digital map as a 41 year old father of two, and to be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it.  

Image Source: Personal Use

Based on this exercise, I am 1000% a visitor of the internet, and that has been almost completely intentional.  There was a time in my life, back in my 20s when I started teaching middle school, that Facebook was huge, Twitter was pretty much what it is today, Instagram was on the rise, and SnapChat had a stronghold.  I had accounts in all of them. I was active in all of them.  I looked to post and build a following, and I love scrolling others’ pages.  Needless to say, my digital map would have looked worlds different than it does today.  I think our digital maps reflect our ages and stages in life. What do we have the capacity for and what (or who) are we willing to give the time to? And also, and maybe most importantly, how does it make us feel?

I can’t say that I was surprised by much of it. However, a major takeaway of mine is how much more variety I have in my personal digital life than in my professional, and that’s something that I think I’d like to work on. I am someone who really enjoys new tools and resources. If it’s recommended, I’m going to create an account, but without a classroom of my own anymore to experiment with these new instructional tools, and working with a teacher base that is still a bit raw from all the "flashy" pandemic tech, I end up sticking with the same tried and true resources and tools I use 80% of the time.

I am beginning to wonder what professional social media have to offer again at this stage in my life, but frankly, it's pulling the trigger of reactivating my accounts and re-curating my feeds that dissuades me from digging in. I remember how much time I once spent on those sites seeking ideas and engaging in conversation, and I also remember the slight feeling of incompetence I had when I saw how productive others were. There was also the FOMO I had if I saw a bunch of others trying out a new idea that I had no idea how to fit in my day to day. I wanted to try everything. That being said, with a decade more experience, I have my expectations more aligned now for what's feasible and realistic, so I may be able to strike that balance a bit better.

I did, however, think I would be almost fully a digital visitor based on the concept that I don’t create and contribute to any communities online really, save a couple of travel apps and social media in a closed space (family and close friends only).  Yet, when I glanced at a few of the resources, mainly this chart below, I realized that I definitely blur the lines.  I do all of my banking and shopping online, read, watch video, stream, and set up profiles all over the place.  I do not check my social media every day or post opinions ever.  I believe my students would call me a “lurker” - HA!  

Image Source: Joint Information Systems Comittee (JISC)

Professionally, I stick to the GSuite, Canva, a few favorite websites like Edutopia and DitchThatTextbook, and software resources our district has invested in such as IXL, a reading and math digital learning platform and HMH's "Into Literature," our school's literacy resource.  Personally, it’s a bit more all over the board with apps that tend to focus on entertainment, productivity, food, and health.  

Personally, I feel in my bones that I’m more of a digital resident.  I navigate the internet with ease, enjoy my curated corner of it, and would turn to a YouTube video or online article before a book or analog source when researching or learning something new.  That being said, I’m missing one of the key components of holding residency on the internet - a voice.  If I don’t have a presence and take part in the social aspect of the internet, am I actually a resident? If that’s what makes me a resident, do I actually want to be? Right now, based on my experiences, my answer is no.  I’m OK with just visiting, but 15 years ago my status was very different, and a year from now, it might be as well.