Technological Change, Digital Adaptability, and Social Inequality

This study examines what it means to be a successful learner in the digital age. Children born into the digital age often are assumed to be "digital natives," who master technology through simple immersion, yet past research reveals substantial variation in the digital generation's ability to adapt to technological change. This is of concern because the ability to adapt to technological change may exacerbate various forms of inequality. However, we do not yet understand differences the ability to learn new technologies---what I call "digital adaptability.";Using a mixed-method approach involving ∼1300 adolescents, including in-depth observations and interviews and a survey of a stratified random sample of 897 Chicago Public School 8th graders in 27 schools, I investigate the potential causes and consequences of differences in digital adaptability. To do so, I created a digital adaptability scale and conducted a survey to understand the structural and cultural factors that may influence digital adaptability and the possible consequences of difference in adaptability.;Findings suggest that resources at home and at school have little influence on adolescents' digital adaptability. Instead, technology practices including use of a wider range of technologies and explicit teaching of adaptability strategies---especially at home---have the greatest positive association with digital adaptability. I also find gender effects; boys report a wider range of strategies than girls. Further, I find that alignment of social spheres matters; redundancy in contexts of lower quality practices is beneficial to adaptability. Finally, I find that adaptability is associated with students' educational plans and occupational aspirations, and in this way may influence economic stratification as suggested by macro-level research.;Beyond what this project reveals about being a successful learner in the digital age, it also provides important theoretical and methodological tools. It offers new ways of conceptualizing and measuring culture and a framework through which we may investigate differences in the broad range of human capabilities and how cultural practices within, between, and across social spheres might lead to these differences---and how this may influence future trajectories and a broad range of social inequalities.