Page 46 - digital citizenship

Ray Kurzweil’s theory, the Law of Accelerating Returns,
illustrates how and why progress seems to be escalating
exponentially. Kurzweil claims that the rate of change is
such that in the next 100 years, we won’t progress 100
years, but we will progress 20,000 years. The tension
comes in that he believes humans to be linear by nature,
while technology is exponential.

According to the 2021 Common Sense Census, media
use in tweens and teens has grown faster since the start
of the pandemic than it has over the four years prior to
the pandemic. Additionally, teens 13- to 18-year-olds
spend nearly an hour and a half a day using social media
but have conflicted feelings about the medium.

No longer are students referred to as digital natives —
those who were brought up with digital technology,
never not knowing a world without the Internet. Post
GenZ is Generation Alpha (born 2010-2025), born
completely in the 21st century. This generation does not
differentiate between what is online versus offline. Their
world is digital. It is a world full of media consumption,
rich with multimedia, and full of pings, dings, and