I think the biggest difference between Boyd and Prensky is that Prensky believes all youth are digital natives today. He is right that today's youth have definitely been surrounded by digital media in many forms since birth and have "grown up"with it. However, I feel Boyd is more accurate in that it is not just the exposure to digital media but the learning and understanding of digital media, how it works, why it works, and the ability to overcome obstacles presented by it that are a much more meaningful gauge into being a digital native. Our youth today will never experience a world without digital technology so it will become even more commonplace over time but just being exposed to it is not enough. Once you interact with digital media and learn the language of it, the idea of becoming more of a "native" seems possible. I feel that our youth today have more time, patience, and a greater need to understand and be part of the digital age which allows them to become more digital savvy.
I also appreciated Boyd's explanation of Wikipedia, which gave me a whole new understanding of it and how to discuss it with my students. I worked as a middle school librarian and remember the seventh and eighth grade teachers insisting that I make sure students know it's "not an acceptable source for any school related research". I simply followed their suggestions and focused students away from that site altogether even though it came up first in almost every google search they did. I feel it can be used as a whole different learning piece if both the student and teacher understand it at a deeper level. As an educator in today's society, I feel I have a responsibility to continue to develop their digital competency which means that I must also continue to develop my own digital competency.
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