The purpose of this article is to explore how habits of using Information and Communications Technologies (hereafter ICT) and actual ICT skills relate to what has been called Digital Natives. The present study explores Digital Native-like people and other groups among two cohorts of students in their first year of university, contributing to the overall picture of Digital Natives as part of the young generation. The study combines survey data describing ICT and media use with test data describing performance-based ICT skills. THE DIGITAL NATIVES DEBATE During the first decade of this millennium, the growing generation was in the focus of an extensive debate in terms of a so-called Net Generation (Tapscott, 1998), Millennials (Howe & Strauss, 2000) and Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001a; Prensky, 2001b). Jones et al. (2010) provide a comprehensive overview of the terms used. The common denominator for many advocates of a digital generation was that they attributed the members of the young generation with different characteristics that they maintained were a direct outcome of technology use, and they generalized the suggested characteristics to apply to the whole age cohort. Almost concurrently with this debate, George Siemens (2005) presented his learning theory for the digital age, suggesting that learning will be different. To some extent, the ways of acting and learning suggested by Siemens resemble the characteristics attributed to the Digital Natives. For several years, the public and the academic rhetoric accepted the thought of a whole generation being homogeneous regarding both ICT skills and ways of using and relating to ICT. Eventually, critical voices (e.g. Best & Kellner, 2003; Lee, 2005) appeared to challenge the over-generalizing rhetoric, now suggesting that the Net Generation may be even more heterogeneous than any previous generation. Still, Best and Kellner (2003) pointed out that this generation is indeed the first one to grow up surrounded by the internet, multimedia and new media. It might be added that the Net Generation also lacks a personal experience of the time before the internet, search engines and mobile phones, not to mention smartphones.

中文翻译：

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数字原住民实际上对 ICT 的精通程度如何？

本文旨在探讨使用信息和通信技术（以下简称 ICT）的习惯以及实际的 ICT 技能与所谓的“数字原住民”之间的关系。本研究在大学第一年的两组学生中探索了类似数字原住民的人和其他群体，为作为年轻一代一部分的数字原住民的整体情况做出了贡献。该研究将描述 ICT 和媒体使用的调查数据与描述基于绩效的 ICT 技能的测试数据相结合。数字原住民辩论 在本世纪的第一个十年中，成长中的一代成为所谓的网络一代 (Tapscott, 1998)、千禧一代 (Howe & Strauss, 2000) 和数字原住民 (普伦斯基，2001a；普伦斯基，2001b）。琼斯等人。(2010) 提供了所用术语的全面概述。许多数字时代倡导者的共同点是，他们认为具有不同特征的年轻一代成员是技术使用的直接结果，并将建议的特征概括为适用于整个年龄段的人群。几乎与这场辩论同时，乔治·西门子 (George Siemens) (2005) 提出了他的数字时代学习理论，暗示学习会有所不同。在某种程度上，西门子建议的行动和学习方式类似于数字原住民的特征。几年来，公众和学术界的言论都接受了整整一代人在 ICT 技能和使用 ICT 以及与 ICT 相关的方式方面都是同质的想法。最终，批评的声音（例如 Best & Kellner，2003；Lee，2005）似乎挑战了过于笼统的言辞，现在表明网络一代可能比任何上一代人都更加多样化。尽管如此，Best and Kellner (2003) 指出，这一代确实是第一个在互联网、多媒体和新媒体环境中成长起来的一代。可以补充的是，网络一代也缺乏互联网、搜索引擎和手机之前的时代的个人体验，更不用说智能手机了。Best and Kellner (2003) 指出，这一代确实是第一个在互联网、多媒体和新媒体环境中成长起来的一代。可以补充的是，网络一代也缺乏互联网、搜索引擎和手机之前的时代的个人体验，更不用说智能手机了。Best and Kellner (2003) 指出，这一代确实是第一个在互联网、多媒体和新媒体环境中成长起来的一代。可以补充的是，网络一代也缺乏互联网、搜索引擎和手机之前的时代的个人体验，更不用说智能手机了。