W8 - Digital Immigration: What is it? Who cares about it? What general attitudes have been based upon it?

In their book "Born Digital", Palfrey and Gasser define a "digital native" as someone born after 1980. Therefore by definition, a "digital immigrant" would be someone born after that date and now over the age of 28/29.

Marc Prensky coined the terms "digital immigrant" and "digital native". He expands on digital immigrants, saying they adapt to their environment but always retain their "accent", their foot in the past. An example of this is printing off an e-mail or document to edit it, or getting someone in their office to look at a website when the URL could have been e-mailed to them instead.

Having coined the term, clearly Prensky cares about the notions - as do academics who have written about it. In the wider world, people may not know the specific terms, but they will care about it. Examples are the digital immigrant parent who asks their digital native child how to use a piece of technology, or the office-worker whose work is now done online instead of on paper. The debate will likely have affected most digital immigrants, whereas to digital natives it may not be noticed as it's all they've ever known.

Of the academics and bloggers who have written on the subject, most are skeptical about it. For example one blogger discusses a newspaper article (both of which I will discuss later). This blogger feels that the difference between natives and immigrants is not early experience, but a willingness to let something new in your life. So is the digital immigrant/native debate as clear-cut as being born one day making you a immigrant, and the next day a native? I don't think so.