What is your "Digital Identity?"

I have determined my digital identity as a “Digital Conformist.” A conformist can be defined as a person who unquestioningly conforms to the usual practices or standards of a group or a society. Seeing the digital and technology age grow at a tremendous rate throughout my life, I have willingly and open-mindedly accepted this way of life. I term it as a way of life because I believe that society has become nearly dependent on the technology that is present today. In order to perform daily activities, communicate and enjoy hobbies and interests that many within separate generations have come to rely on.

Marc Prensky, an American writer and speaker on education has written the article, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” expounding on a belief that most every one of us today is split into two separate categories. The first being the Digital Native which is a newer generation that has grown up on, unconsciously, living and dealing with the digital technologies that are around us every day.  They have most likely always had audio and video devices, communication devices and informational gathering technology. This is first nature to them. I have experience with having a child that is part of this generation how dependent they are, unknowingly, to the technology that surrounds them. This can be both good and bad as Marc Prensky discusses. It is most definitely a topic up for debate. This generation is aware, in some cases, how little they know about the times that the previous generations have lived through. Prensky states, “What does ‘dial’ a number mean, anyway?” (Prensky, 2001). Beyond that the digital native is not familiar with; recording from the radio our favorite songs onto a cassette tape, having to get up off the couch to change the channel on the television (with the half a dozen or so channels by use of physically turning a knob) and having to wait for a phone call or having to leave, and check, messages on an answering machine with a mini cassette. The digital natives have been surrounded by many new technologies and tools in this digital age.

The second category in comparison to the natives is the Digital Immigrants. This group is one that had grown into technology as it progressed. I believe that within this group are those that have adapted and welcomed the fascinating tools that were invented and created to simplify, better educate and make life easier to get through. The other group I believe falls under the digital immigrant is one that is not as interested in technology and likes to still do things the way they have been used to. They feel their system works and there is no reason to change. 

Those of us, which I fall into this category, that embraced this technology could not get enough of it. I always had to have the newest and best equipment as soon as it became available to me. From the time of seeing my first computer at a friend’s house when I was about ten years old to the present of being fascinated with the Google Glass, I have had a hunger to learn all I can about it. I also had gotten to the point where I was obsessed with it. It went far enough to affect my family, friends, work and my life in general. I had to work at creating a personal versus digital balance. I needed to work on involving myself with society rather than overly experiencing it through digital media.

This is where I believe Prensky brings his philosophy into a debate. With both social designations interacting today there presents a need for tolerance and learning curve between the two. I believe that both the digital natives and the digital immigrants need to be open-minded if they want to expand their knowledge. For everyone to better his or her knowledge in either direction, both groups need to have the willingness to accept and become more knowledgeable to the others experiences. If they are not willing to do so, then that is where they need to agree to disagree. 

There will always be conflicting beliefs between different generations as well as those within the same generation. I believe it all depends on the individual. Some will grab their pen and paper to make lists or notes. Others of us will use our media technology to create lists and schedules simply by adding it to our smart devices and sync that information to every other device they own. Some will pick up a book every time they read or even put a DVD into their player. Others will read on their tablet and download a torrent to watch a movie on the computer or stream it directly to their smart television.

In closing, being a “Digital Conformist” is what I believe best describes me as a digital immigrant. I had to learn and be willing to accept future technology as it was introduced into society, rather than growing up and living with it as an everyday necessity as a digital native does. In the world we live in today there will be conflicting ideas and groups of societies that constantly have differences in many beliefs and theologies. It would be too easy to tell everyone to just accept their differences and learn about the conflicting ideas to join the mainstream. I enjoy being my own “Digital Conformist” and the preceding information is how I have come to my conclusion.

Reference:

Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital Native, Digital Immigrant. On The Horizon, 9(5).