Are you curious as to what type of user are you on the internet? My first post will be dedicated to let you understand what type of users are you.
We will explore the differences between “Digital Residents” and “Digital Visitors”. Both Digital “Residents” and “Visitors” are used to describe one’s activity in the internet. These 2 models have been used to replace the heavily criticised Prensky’s (2001) model of Digital “Natives” and “Immigrants”. Digital “Natives” are used to describe the kids who were raised in the current digital environment and grow with the use of technology, whereas Digital “Immigrates” are used to describe the older generations who were not exposed to the digital environment in their early life, but picked up the skill in the later part. The main difference states that “Immigrants” may not entirely keep up with the new footing and may even continue to adopt their “old way” of sourcing.
This framework classifies people of the same generation together. However, a question to think about:
“Do you think the people around you use technology the same way you do?”
Therefore, David S. White and Alison Le Cornu (2011) framework will be a better representation of the types of users in the internet.
Digital “Residents” spend most of their time on the web, where anyone can find out about their interests, feelings and character. They consistently share their personal life information on the web. You may be a “Residents” if you consistently have such thoughts:
“I want to Snapchat this!” , “What should I post on my Instagram today?”
Digital “Visitors” do not put their feelings, thoughts and ideas online. They do not see a point in consistently engaging online to update on their personal information but uses the internet to accomplish task, eg. Google to do their projects or banking. Digital “Visitors” most likely have such thoughts:
“Social platform are too fake” , “You cannot believe what you see online”, “There’s no point in telling everyone about what you are doing”
As for me, I find myself consistently engaging in the social media platform – Digital Resident. I frequently use the social media to share interesting activities and see it as a platform to store my memories, eg. sharing interesting videos I come across on Facebook or posting memorable events.
Below are pictures of what I update on my social medias:
Facebook:
Instagram:
On the other hand, I do have friends who dislike engaging their social life on social medias. (Does this make them the “older generation”?) and my mum enjoys updating her Facebook (Does this means she is from a “new generation?).
Hence, I believe it is not accurate to classify internet users as “native” or “immigrants”. It’s more of one’s preference to the use of social network.
(457 words)
What about you? Let me know in the comment section below! (:
See you soon!
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Hello Wan Sia! I suppose I’m different from you. I consider myself as a “visitor” instead. I prefer to look at social media platforms as a ‘TV screen’ to the big world out there. Like what you mentioned above, I think that there are risks involved in social media usage. For example, cases of employee retrenchment due to inappropriate comments online. Hence, Instagram is simply a tool to catch up on the latest happenings within my social circle and the life of celebrities. But I definitely agree with your idea that social media pages record down our memories and special moments. That is the significance of social media in my opinion. You also approached the notion of “native” versus “immigrant” with a hilarious analogy. I like the contrast between actual age and the concept of digital “generation” group (older or young generation). Looking ahead to read your future posts 🙂
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Hey Wansia! I think its nice that you use thoughts for the different explaination of digital ‘residents’ and ‘visitors’ as it allows me to visualize them more clearly. My thoughts are similar to both ‘residents’ and ‘visitors’ and I wondered if I am a ‘visitor’ however I am constantly engaged in social media platforms. I think I am that friend who dislike engaging my social life on social media. I think that doesnt make me an older generation (which I suppose you meant as immigrants too) because I have the level of access and knowledge of skills to enhance my learning digitally. Older generation, also known as immigrants, are those not born in the digital world, like you mum I suppose! If she enjoys updating her facebook and has an online persona to maintain, I guess she can be classified as a digital resident!! 🙂
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