Am I a Digital Native?

  After reading Prensky's article about digital natives and immigrants I have come to the conclusion that I am not a digital native. Prensky defines a digital native as students that have grown up in a world of advanced technology. Prensky states that digital natives "have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age." This is not the case for myself.
   I remember typing my first school paper on a type writer. I didn't have my first computer until I was in the eighth grade. When we got our computer the internet was brand new and had to connect to a phone line. The very first time I used the internet I kept getting kicked off anytime someone would call the house. It was extremely frustrating. My generation didn't use the internet for research papers. We had to actually go to a library for hours when we had a research project. 
   My generation wasn't technologically challenged though. We had cell phones, just very large ones that were used for emergency only. If you were really cool you had a car phone. We also carried around beepers that we would leave secret messages to our friends on, an old school form of texting. I may be a digital immigrant but I feel like I can easily keep up with most of today's digital natives. I love technology and am eager to learn new techniques.