Digital immigrant

I have changed the name of this blog to Digital Immigrant, which is what I am. I do not normally like being categorised, but this time around, the description is accurate.

A digital immigrant is someone who has learnt about technology late in life. Digital immigrants are the opposite of digital natives. Digital natives grew up surrounded by technology.

My digital immigrant accent is no longer as thick as it was 5 years ago. I remember walking into a Vodacom store with my then boyfriend and asking for a “phone that only makes phone calls“. It took me a while to get addicted to Twitter, even though I was probably one of the first South Africans to use 43things.com and Flickr.com

These days I’m more aware of social media, teh interweb and all around awesomeness. I blame it on dating a nerdy boy for 4.5 years and then starting to work at an eMarketing company. So it’s only natural that I want my sisters — they’re 18-year-old twins — to join me online. And I’m not alone: one of my friends bought her brother a domain for his birthday this year.

I’ve been trying to teach my sisters about Google, Firefox, blogs and social networks. I’ve been trying to get them interested in becoming a Wikipedian; I’m one and I enjoy it. They’re not interested and would much rather be on Mxit than the internet. Or use Internet Explorer than Firefox. This is similar to how I was at their age except that I preferred reading books; Mxit is a new development.

It perplexes me. I’m the one who walks around super-connected all day long. I am a bit disappointed that they’re only interested in Mxit and that they do not know — or care — about Opera Mini, the mobile browser that I use. I think it’s beyond awesome and is excited that there is a new update available…

I used to be disappointed that I’m the only one who reads; these days I wish my sisters could be more connected. Early days, yes, I know that. They’re still young and I shouldn’t push too hard; they might  download Opera Mini tomorrow and rival my Wikipedia efforts. And I guess my friend should also give her brother some breathing space. Allow him to play around on Mxit and he might develop an interest in teh interweb on his own.

But first, some reasons why I think it would benefit them to be more gee.ky:

1. They’ll be exposed to teh interweb and social media. This makes sense: if they’re exposed to teh interweb and social media they will become used to it. So in two or three years’ time they won’t be clueless about it.

2. They can build an online presence. Who needs a CV these days? Almost all of us have a blog (I have four…um, three) and we use it to promote ourselves. Have you ever googled someone and found *gasp* nothing? It used to be that we were relieved; now we wonder what century this person lives in.

3. It’s fun. Not the bestest reason but a worthwhile one. I spend too much time online but I also spent too much time reading books during high school. Exams used to be my favourite times — I had plenty of time to read. So why just focus on the online presence and networking part? It should be fun.

4. Build ‘em connections early. It’s a fact: rich people have more connections. It’s easy to understand, too: the more people you know, the easier it gets to land a high-paying job. Or, the more people you know, the easier it gets to land a contract or business deal. It’s as easy, if not easier, to build connections online.

5. They’ll change the way their brains work. Yes, this is a good reason, I promise. Being on teh interweb means you’re constantly on the lookout for more information. Sure, your attention span may decrease — as has mine — but you get better at multi-tasking, something that I couldn’t do before.

It’s been proved, too: Neuroplasticity. And here’s another article about Neuroplasticity. Our teachers were wrong: we don’t lose braincells as we grow older; our braincells adapt to our environment. Constant texting (smsing), Mxiting, working on the web and connecting with people — at the same time — does that to one. Constant stimulation provides ‘toned’ braincells; the mental equivalent of weight-lifting.

This is the best argument for bullying my sisters into adapting the WWW into their lives. Soon employers will want to know how skilled you are at Ubiquity, Minefield and Google. They won’t care about your typing speed or how much Excel and MS Word you know. I always failed those tests, btw. Not the typing speed one, though — I type a more than decent 75wpm.

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