© 2009 Jed

Define: Digital Native

I’m not really sure if I’m young enough to be classified as a ‘Digital Native’ but I’m going to play the ignorance card and say ‘yes, yes I am a digital native’.

I wanted to try and give you my definition, which may not make much sense, or conveniently agree with more popular and more intelligent people, but here goes…

Digital Native

Demographic that’s focused on an age of modern communcation, global term.

• noun 1 a person who has grown up using digital technology. 2 a person that communicates using 21st century methods. 3 a person that annoys non-digital natives that have tried to learn the ways of digital natives.

— PHRASES God it’s just because she’s a digital native I’m angry that they understand a situation that I don’t. Let’s target the digital natives let’s target people that we’re a little out of touch with (in which case, let’s learn very quickly about digital natives).

— ORIGIN New Global Les Digitale Native ‘inherent communicator’, from Latin Digitalis Nativis.

06 Feb Written by Jed, on February 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm, covering Public Relations, Social Media and tagged , , , , , , , , . Save the link. Track comments using RSS. Comment or back track, I mean trackback.
  • kay kay
    There is no age requirement to be considered a digital native. It's simply whether you began learning using digital technology or pre-digital technologies. A digital native learned how to use digital technologies first and his or her first instinct is to capitalize on digital technologies before, say, looking in the phone book.
  • Even though I am only 24 - I don't define myself as a digital native because I can remember vividly a time where I didn't have the Internet, know what the Internet was or even when I did discover the Internet, I was one of the first of my peers, so didn't really start speaking with people I already knew offline until almost very recently (last couple of years).

    I'd say my sister's age group are digital native (she is 18) because when I ask her to remember a time where we didn't have the net, she can't honestly remember.
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