Understanding "digital natives" means more than trying to understand "millennials" as a generation, or Gen Y, or whatever else we decide to call a group of people that don't fit into any of the standard marketing divisions. It means trying to understand a language that goes far beyond technology, ethnicity, even location or economics or age. This is not to say that all digital natives are equal; far from it. It is to say that they look at the media as a landscape (mediascape) much the same way as one might look at the weather or terrain. It is a world that saturates them.

This is my TED Talk from TED Global 2013 in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's called "Digital Culture, Language, Revolution." It's not available on ted.com yet, but I've been told that it will be at some point. In the meantime, they've allowed me to release it through my personal accounts.

In this TED Talk, given in 2013, I began to gesture towards what I called "digital graffiti." What's important to remember, though, is that like for street artists, this form of graffiti is mean to build and sustain community. In other words, while some might consider it annoying or defacing an otherwise slick surface, it is also a rich field of culture, interaction, and life.