What's a digital native?

I'm a millennial. Born between the years 1981 and 1996, we grew up in the advent of technology.  Before 1998, my family didn't own a computer, so my aunt gave us her old Gateway desktop. Besides dying on the Oregon Trail and chasing Carmen Sandiego around the world, I used the computer for schoolwork. I remember typing my first school report in third grade, when I had to research a landmark in town and write an essay about it. My elementary school had a library full of computers where we played games and learned how to type, and so I began using technology as an educational tool from a young age.

Does this make me a digital native? According to Technopedia's definition, I am. For the past 20 years (almost 3/4 of my life!) digital technologies have played an important role in my life. From that first typed essay to now, in graduate school, I have used technology almost daily. At first, it was just computers. I was a Myspace kid. I watched all of those weird Youtube videos way before you could have a career as Youtuber. Note: Keyboard Cat is not NEARLY the strangest video that we obsessed about back in high school. 

In 8th grade I got a cellphone for the first time. My mom wanted me to have it so that I could call her for rides home from soccer practice. At the time, iPhones were still a few years in the future and texting cost 10 cents per message. Peep this beauty:

Thus, an expensive texting obsession began. I've watched as phone culture evolved slowly through my high school and college years. I didn't have a smartphone until I was 21, but I quickly adapted to the new social media options that were out there. Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify; these have all become part of my daily life. I strongly believe that my technology opportunities as a child have influenced my ability to use and explore new technologies as an adult. I have never had a problem incorporating new methods into my learning or teaching. When my school went 1:1 with Chromebooks, I fully embraced the change.  

Although I didn't spend my earliest years with personal technology, I do believe that I am a digital native, and I am excited to spend the next two weeks learning how to transfer this into my teaching.