Understanding Digital Natives Better
By Abhishek Haridasan
Those born with digital technologies in their hands and kids who’ve enjoyed the positives of digital technologies in their lives from a young age. That’s how I would like to define digital natives especially the generation that has seen and experienced digital technologies in their lives from a very young age.
You could place them in Generation Z or categorise them in Gen Alpha that’s on the rise.
My conversations with young parents place them in a precarious position as they deal with children who use technology as a getaway from the regular and find it as a mode for ensuring life goes on as well.
Parents seem to be considering technology as an enabler and are equally worried about its overconsumption, the latter being prevalent among children who don’t seem to appreciate the outdoors and love the interconnected worldwide web!
These digital natives aren’t taking the wrong route but feel the need to be digitally savvy in school, play, and maybe in work, too, as they grow into adults.
The generations before them were at the cusp of technology taking over their lives, and hence, those individuals who have become parents aren’t able to find the perfect balance between real life and the reels’ life.
What began many years ago as a mode of making lives convenient is suddenly posing questions in the minds of those in their late 30s and early 40s. Are we now slaves to technology advancements and is there a way to strike a balance?
Surprisingly, leaders of tech giants can detox themselves against the overuse of tech and are elated to be indulging in digitally undefined activities. The Top 1 per cent can reclaim their lives by setting boundaries at work, while the other 99 per cent, which includes you, me, and millions of us, are astonishingly addicted to tech in every aspect of our lives.
Is there hope?
There possibly is, in the silence of the night and during twilight, when we enjoy nature in its purest form before we begin our lives that start and end with technology across multiple aspects.
Will the digital natives of today realize a world that is enabled by tech but easily disabled by self-preservation and finding peace within?
Perhaps there will be better days ahead!
