In recent days I've been starting to feel this idea of "digital natives" is a silly one. There's no such thing as a "reading native" or "math native" – these are skills and concepts we learn in school because society at large has decided they are important enough to warrant the investment.
On the other hand, there's no standard curriculum or expectation around computers and software (afaik). We have this expectation that people will learn how to use things by osmosis or will be taught by the thing itself, perhaps because some kinds of software are extremely good at this (primarily games) and some types are easy enough to get started and have a motivation (eg. social) that they can "pull" users through their difficulties (or they can ask friends). People jump to conclusions - "if the kids can do that, they can do everything" - which is clearly not the case. My knowledge of Excel won't help me with Snapchat which won't help me with Blender - and the difficulty difference between commonly used consumer apps and work apps can be significant.
The issue is that outside of the easy spaces, learning about computers is boring, difficult, doesn't have obvious usefulness, provides largely useless feedback, is often wildly unintuitive compared to how things work in the real world, and tends to require a baseline of knowledge most people won't have the interest to develop. This isn't surprising - the same applies to many subjects we learn in school. Most people will have no more interest learning common computer abstractions and mechanisms than memorizing their times tables or writing essays with an opening, body, and conclusion or looking up words they don't know in a dictionary.
In short, computing is something that should be actively taught in schools. Typing is a basic skill that should probably be taught in elementary, when children are learning to write (or shortly after). UI abstractions like files, folders, windows, searching should probably follow. Word processing should be covered before middle school, other productivity software during, along with more complex abstractions (clipboard, storage, paths, permissions, networks, accounts/passwords/security, scams, where to get help). Introductory programming should be taught as well.
None of this is to say that the average student should be a capable programmer after completing K-12. But I think that almost everyone should know enough to draw reasonable conclusions about systems and problems they encounter without outside help, if for no other reason than to avoid being exploited by scams, ransomware, ads, and whatever new attack vectors show up in the coming years.
On the other hand, there's no standard curriculum or expectation around computers and software (afaik). We have this expectation that people will learn how to use things by osmosis or will be taught by the thing itself, perhaps because some kinds of software are extremely good at this (primarily games) and some types are easy enough to get started and have a motivation (eg. social) that they can "pull" users through their difficulties (or they can ask friends). People jump to conclusions - "if the kids can do that, they can do everything" - which is clearly not the case. My knowledge of Excel won't help me with Snapchat which won't help me with Blender - and the difficulty difference between commonly used consumer apps and work apps can be significant.
The issue is that outside of the easy spaces, learning about computers is boring, difficult, doesn't have obvious usefulness, provides largely useless feedback, is often wildly unintuitive compared to how things work in the real world, and tends to require a baseline of knowledge most people won't have the interest to develop. This isn't surprising - the same applies to many subjects we learn in school. Most people will have no more interest learning common computer abstractions and mechanisms than memorizing their times tables or writing essays with an opening, body, and conclusion or looking up words they don't know in a dictionary.
In short, computing is something that should be actively taught in schools. Typing is a basic skill that should probably be taught in elementary, when children are learning to write (or shortly after). UI abstractions like files, folders, windows, searching should probably follow. Word processing should be covered before middle school, other productivity software during, along with more complex abstractions (clipboard, storage, paths, permissions, networks, accounts/passwords/security, scams, where to get help). Introductory programming should be taught as well.
None of this is to say that the average student should be a capable programmer after completing K-12. But I think that almost everyone should know enough to draw reasonable conclusions about systems and problems they encounter without outside help, if for no other reason than to avoid being exploited by scams, ransomware, ads, and whatever new attack vectors show up in the coming years.