21st Century Learners

Consider the articles of Prensky(2001) "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" and Prensky(2005) "Engage Me or Enrage Me" and other authors who are critical of Prensky's broad brush generalisations, Margaryan and Littlejohn(2008) and Thrupp(2009).What is your belief and understanding of todays learners? Is there substance to the "enrage or engage" argument?
Prensky(2001) asserts that we can be classified as 'digital immigrants' or 'digital natives' and as these titles suggest 'digital natives' are completely comfortable with technology as they have grown up surrounded by digital alternatives.  'Digital immigrants' on the other hand need to learn how to engage with technology.  Prensky claims that immigrants have an 'accent' and this 'accent' is obvious to a digital native.
Prensky(2005) also suggests that we have the choice 'Engage Me or Enrage Me.'
Margaryan & Littlejohn(2008) offer data that suggests not all students are engaged in meaningful digital learning activities but are limited to using social networking sites, email, YouTube videos, word processing and web searches and in fact that not all students are digitally active.
I agree with Prensky's assertions with respect to the idea of digital natives, digital immigrants and even the accent.  However I do not agree with his extreme leaps for which he offers only anecdotal evidence.
He suggest that 'digital natives like their graphics before their text rather than the opposite'.  I would suggest that most people prefer their graphics before their text, natives and immigrants alike.  The beautifully illustrated first texts/books with incredibly detailed calligraphy would suggest love of pictures/images/art was here long before the digital age.  Do we not all look at the cover of the book before we buy it?
I think many of his assertions of a new language and new content are ever evolving and not something new but something that every generation has had to adapt to in some form or another.  For example music is ever evolving as are social and ethical issues and we as a society have to strive to keep up!
That is not to say we should not be taking full advantage of the wonderful opportunity that ICT has to offer us.  IWBs are revolutionising the classroom as the World Wide Web has revolutionised the availability of knowledge. Calculators, graphics calculators, skype, ipads...there is ongoing and rapid development of new technologies and we must find ways to utilise them effectively.
As educators we must be developing stimulating teaching practices that constantly engage our students and that includes integrating digital technologies into the classroom.

To offer some of my own anecdotal evidence, I have found that school students greatest use of digital technologies (outside of school) is for communication followed by researching information and games/pleasure.  What sort of communication? It is certainly not in the form of a blog, a forum or a wiki.  It is in the form of instant messaging, facebook/social networking and skype and sometimes an email (to a lesser extent).  Instant communication!  This is not to say it is not educational, just that as digital immigrants like to talk on the phone or face to face, digital natives like to 'talk' via txt/facebook/instant messaging/skype through their computer or their mobile phone.