Digital Natives, Digital citizen and Digital Immigrants

We live at a point in history best described as the digital age while some text describe it as the information age or the computer age.
The generation of people still present today is made up of an older generation who are less attracted to technology and a new generation of people who were born into the world of technology.

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Digital Natives

People who were born after the 1980's were born into a time characterized by a digital proliferation. The age of the cell phones, the internet, Email, social media, and a lot of technology that characterizes our daily life. This children came to see the cell phones and "fell in love with the technology". For this generation, the word "Hello" is among the first five words they have come to learn, currently, at the age of one they are exited each time the phone rings and once they are two, they grab hold of the remote and at age three, they can connect a phone to a Bluetooth speaker. Digital natives are mostly self taught.
These are the real Digital Natives, they are no strangers to technology and they grow up inseparable from the phone, computers, video games, internet, social media, google and and any upcoming technology. This are true digital Natives because they speak the language of digital technology fluently in their daily lives and have formed an addictive attachment to technology.

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Digital citizens

These are mostly made up of older persons who were born in the telephone
era they were born in the 1980`s or a little earlier. Though they were not born into the technology age, they have adopted this technology and have become Digital citizens by socialization. This group make use of the available technology but are not completely immersed in it nor have they developed an addictive attachment to technology. Most digital citizens have a functional email mostly used for work. They have a Facebook and WhatsApp they use sparingly often in very productive ways and some are the developers of this technology consumed by the digital natives. You can find a good number of digital citizens on LinkedIn with very little or no digital natives there.

Digital Immigrants

While most people are using Android phones, this group are still using java phones and are contented with it. Making calls and receiving calls seem to be the only function of a cell phone they are willing to explore. Most of then do not have a email address and the few who have one can't recall the password. They often only see the dangers of social media and how technology has messed up the world they knew. Some of them view technology as the enemy and are mostly computer and technology illiterate, enjoying the other side of the Digital divide and teaching then new technology is an uphill task.

Advantage of having Digital Citizens

• They are not blinded by the technology but are consumers of digital technology.
• Their knowledge of a life without technology tend to be of an advantage to this group resulting in less dependency on technology.
• Digital Citizens are able to live their lives separate from technology while making good use of the technology.
• They often use their knowledge of pre technology era to come up with more innovative Technology.
• They seem to have some strong immunity to digital addiction compared to their children.
• They seem to be better consumers of digital technology and technology related product.