After reading about the discussion between ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’, I have now come to realize that different generations are placed in different ‘digital’ groups, which is something I never knew existed before. I’m aware that the younger generation are quicker to grasp to technology, but to split generations in two groups was something I have never come across and found it strange to discuss two groups primarily on age. I’ve heard people of the younger generation calling older people technophobes for not being able to grasp technological advances, but this discussion was something completely new to me. I’m not saying that the groups are only separated by age, but saying the digital immigrants use the internet solely to book holidays or check their bank balances isn’t necessarily true. As I mentioned in my discussion of this topic on my blog, some people in the so-called ‘digital immigrant’ part of the discussion actually use things like social media more than people from the ‘native’ group. I see this on a day-to-day basis as my Facebook news feed contains more pictures and status updates from immigrants than natives.
In an article by the Huffington Post (which is also referenced on the blog post for this topic), it is mentioned that people of the ‘digital native’ group view the world in a more egalitarian manner while also expressing cynical views towards the government, for example. On the other hand, people who are considered to be ‘digital immigrants’ are very goal-oriented, which is something I sometimes see with older generations. Sometimes I feel that ‘digital immigrants’ I’ve met and spent time with can pressure me into getting work and figure out what I want to do when I finish university, which makes me feel uneasy at times. On the other hand, some people who are considered to be digital immigrants have a slightly different point of view. These members of digital immigrant group have told me (from personal experience) to not worry about it, which makes me feel a little more comfortable.
All in all, I initially had no idea that there was a discussion on how the internet was across various age groups and it’s an argument I can relate to at times (Huffington Post), while the other argument saying that ‘digital immigrants’ use the internet to solely check bank balances and book holidays is something I find to be completely untrue.
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