Generation Net: Humanization or Digitalization

Abstract

Digital technologies in the 21st century
are becoming an integral part of people’s
lives. In the modern educational paradigm
in Russia the processes of digitalization
have been objectively conditioned
by the transition on the part of society
to a new technological order. Because
of digital technologies in education,
the Net generation (i.e., children born
in the 2000s) will be prepared for a successful
mastery of the electronic technological
environment. The author considers two
positions in assessing the capabilities
of the digital generation. Proponents
of the cognitive, technological potential for
the new generation of young people believe
that a special digital environment must
be created in the educational environment
for the Net generation for the successful
development of their abilities and creative
potentials. The other assessment is that
the heuristic potential of the digital generation
is overstated. The article presents the results
of the analysis of creative works of students
of one of the technical universities. These make
it possible for us to conclude that along
with the processes of digitalization in
education, the humanitarian component
must be strengthened. The abundance
of information leads to a lack
of the ability to comprehend and experience it, and, as a result, to a lack of creativity.
Creative activity is based not only on
knowledge, but on imagination,
the aspiration towards fantasy. The level
of creative abilities of the representatives
of the digital generation does not exceed
the level of the older generation, namely,
the “digital immigrants.” The author comes
to the conclusion about the necessary dialectics
of humanitarian and digital education, which
is able to develop a creative,
educated personality.