Fries with your laptop? - Digital Natives in the kitchen.

In 2001, Marc Prensky coined the term "Digital Natives" to describe the generation of young people who:

• Have grown up with the Internet and email always being there


• Turn to online sources of information as their first call


• Thrive on being connected and multitask with ease


• Prefer branching and hypertext instead of linear, didactic flow


• See graphics and games as vehicles for learning

To some extent, the older generation of technology user has adapted - some have become complete converts. But most of us "Digital Immigrants" retain our accent to some degree.

These concepts were really brought home to me by my daughter, who is 19 and back home for her summer break from university. In an attempt to boost her funds (and reduce her overdraft) she took a summer job at an HR Shared Services centre. Her team decided that each Friday, they will take it in turns to bake some cakes and bring them into the office. Becky was first up and decided to make some Carrot Cake. Now, our kitchen has a bookcase in it with around thirty cook and recipe books. I reckon she could have found at least 5 Carrot Cake recipes in that collection. But no. In true Digital Native style she brought her wireless laptop into the kichen and searched for a recipe from Google. Having found one that suited, she kept the laptop on the butcher's block island unit for reference, covered the keyboard with some cling film and produced a great cake. She didn't even feel the need to print the recipe out.

I consider myself to be a pretty savvy Digital Immigrant - but this stopped me in my tracks. Becky didn't even THINK of using a book. Her first call was on technology - WiFi, laptop and internet - something she did intuitively and almost instinctively.