Digital Native is a term used to describe the new generation of net savvy people. Digital natives are people born after 1980 thus qualifying them to be fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, mobile phones and the Internet. Other names for the Digital Native generation are Millenials, NetGen and Homo Zappiens.
People born since 1980 have witnessed and essentially driven the trend from desk top computers, through laptops and now into netbooks and mobile phones. This trend is easily witnessed through the sales areas allotted in large electrical department stores where the floor space allotted to a product line is reflective of the saleability of the product. Very little space is given to desktop computers. The space is occupied by netbooks and smart phones. As part of this trend, we see aspects of convergence where more than ever, mobile phones can perform multiple tasks including phone, watch or time keeper, diary, day planner, alarm clock, camera, digital voice recorder and address book. Often I find that my students in postgraduate university courses are using their mobile phones to view online course materials while I am speaking. (Yes, I checked, they were not chatting to their mates). Convergence and the Internet have also driven business models to 24/7. That is, the Internet never closes.
Digital technologies including the smart phone, digital music playing (MP3 player) and the ebook reader have now been integrated with the social net culture. Many non-Digital Natives have worried that the fact that younger people are fluent in the digital language will mean that there are less technical jobs. This is turning out to be a myth. Fluency in digital language does mean that young people are more able to use the technology in a social way as this use requires very little technical knowledge. However, it does mean that virtual business models that are based on social uses of the technology are booming as are the job and business opportunities around them.
