ARE DIGITAL NATIVES REALLY NATIVES OR DİGİTAL HYBRIDS?

In the studies made by Mark Prensky, individuals are classified and evaluated according to their technological abilities and skills into 2 group as “digital natives” or “digital immigrants” and since this time the subject has cantinued to be discussed. According to Prensky, those born before 1980 should be classed as digital immigrants and those born after 1980 are classed as digital natives. The digital natives were literally born into a world of knowledge and technology. The most important characteristic of digital natives is that not only do they perfom more than one function on a single device simultaneously. However, in Turkey, it can be seen that those born after 1980, whose ages are now 1725 and who are university students do not behave exactly as digital natives. It can be observed that university students have a hybrid character like the university libraries which offer bıth printed materials and digital materials together at the same time. In this study it was analyzed that whether the students that study in the different faculties of Marmara University are digital natives or not. The questionnaire that formed the basis of this study was applied to 382 students and their approach to accessing information was analysed. After the completion of the survey, a new category of “digital hybrids” was proposed; it is suggested that digital natives, who in the literature are described as those born after 1980, should in fact be defined as those born after the year 2000, digital immigrants should be defined as those born before 1970 and yhose between from 1970-1999 should be described as digital hybrids. The result of this study important that also, rather than the fashionable approaches in the literature, we need to consider the needs and expectations of the users; digital natives, digital immigrants or digital hybrids and to adopt an evidence-based approach to service policy development. Dijital Yerliler Gerçekten Yerli mi Yoksa Dijital Melez mi? 820