D-Gen: The Digital Generation
The digital world — a term that did not exist 50 years ago. Technology has taken over our world and integrated itself into our daily lives. Some people may say this is for the better while others may say it is for the worse, it is something that has been discussed and will continue to be talked about.
The discussion of generations is an ongoing debate such as whether someone is apart of the millennial age group or “gen-z”. Similarly, the argument of those in the digital generation is a term up for discussion and how we categorize those as “digital natives”. As Prensky said, digital natives are, “all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet” (White & Le Cornu, 2011). One question that arose for me was how do we define what native speakers are of the digital language? Initially, I considered myself a digital native because I felt that I understand computers and the digital culture that has been created with our increased dependency on technology. Yet, I also recognized that I do not understand how to play many video games or coding and how websites are created. While this is something that I could pick up or get a better gauge on, would I still be considered a digital native?
Luckily, White and Le Cornu helped create the terms visitor and resident when looking at our digital world. A visitor is considered someone who does not have a “digital identity” and view the Internet as an additional tool to help them find content and will sometimes use it for communication. A resident is someone who feels that their lives are both online and in-person and feel that they belong to a sense of “community” while on the internet (2011). Personally, when I look at these terms I feel that I can belong to all three of these categories. Sometimes, I do not want to create another profile for a social media app or want to be invisible on the websites that I am using. On the other hand, I find myself posting photos on Instagram and feeling a sense of community when I am on my social media platforms and molding into the resident term.
This is just one example of how the Internet has influenced our lives; creating new terms and having studies conducted about the digital world and the impact it has on our lives. As someone that is considered a “digital native”, it can be challenging trying to balance the dependency we have on technology and juggling the societal standards and assumptions around it. With this, I do consider the “digital generation” a positive aspect to our society and something that I want to explore more.
White, D., & Le Cornu, A. (2011, August 9). View of Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday: Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet. https://firstmonday.org/article/view/3171/3049
