COMMENTS
Great article. Although I spent 15 yrs in high tech and helped Sun put the dot in dot com... I definitely fall in the Native category. Great food for thought! Thanks!
Nice. Great job Hubspot. Smacks of age-ism.
You're showing your age with such a clumsy post.
Digital natives communicate in acronyms. LOL TTYL OMG even when you are actually TALKING to them :-)
This made me feel young again ! I have all the characteristics of a digital native despite being a baby boomer ! You made my day !
I'm totally a native! :D
8 months ago I completely abandoned the use of phone (mobile or landlines). I no longer carry a mobile phone with me. I communicate through at least a dozen other communication channels online, both with my business partners and my friends.
I got my first PC when I was 6 and internet connection when I was 10. I made my first website when at the age of 12. :)
Now that we can identify a Native, where's the best place for him in the workplace?
Is he a problem solver-information gatherer-design or setup?
Seems like they would never sit all day and do menial tasks like adjusting inventory, answering the phones or working in the mail or shipping room.
@Rick Mortlock - I'd say in marketing.
I can't tell you how many jobs I've lost due to being a Native. I might be 40 yo, but I insist on everything being done through the computer. It is nice to see an article like this that embraces us Digital Natives, as we aren't trying to take over a company, just trying to help it run more productively and at a lower cost. I really enjoyed this article.
Nice Brian.
If this goes well, you could publish a quiz that people can use...
Thanks for the comments, everyone. A couple things I wanted to say:
@Matt - It's not ageist. There are plenty of Digital Natives who are over 40 or 50, or even 60. The numbers of Natives are rising over time though, as computing hardware and knowledge is cheaper and more widespread. Looking over the comments, I see a few older natives weighing in as well. HubSpot also definitely does not hire exclusively natives or anything like it – We have many people here that self-identify as "Immigrants with an accent".
@Toni – That's interesting that you don't even carry a mobile anymore. How do you keep your communication open when out and about?
@Rich – I think the most natural fits for natives are often in Marketing or Engineering/Development/Product. Really though, I think they can fit in anywhere with the right personality and education.
Glad folks get +1 for using the phone to call their mothers.
People still have landlines?
many digital natives suffer from ADHD, which is why they multitask all of the time. Do NOT give them an important job that has to be completed in a timely fashion without distractions - like surgery.
I find that while Mac users feel comfortable with PCs, PC users more often feel uncomfortable with Mac platforms.This means that clearly, Mac Digital Natives are superior and of more value.
I think the commentators who brought up ageism have a point - the 'digital native' appellation applies to more than "teens and young professionals" although statistically it is true that youth and digital nativeness are strongly correlated. I think a nuanced view is called for - or at least something that explains my gray hairs and high score on your quiz.
On that note, does a "digital native" mom get points for texting her kids? Seems only fair if the kids get a point for making her stop what she's doing to have a single threaded task activity such as a phone call. (Oh, and dads and grandparents should be eligible for the extra credit point too.)
The fact that digital natives are self-propelled can be a double-edged sword in that they may not take instruction/advice from more experienced superiors very well.
As a Gen Y digital native, I'm speaking about some of my peers but it's still a negative trait I've noticed.
We have to be careful of what some people have called "insolent ignorance" even though we think we know everything already:-)
@Shawn, I do think it's an important distinction to make between a Digital Native who is defensive when given instruction/advice and a Digital Native who simply wants to examine tasks against their power and effectiveness.
I'm sure Brian (the author of this piece) has some great ideas on how Digital Natives and their supervisors can work together harmoniously. Perhaps he can follow up this captivating piece with an article on how Digital Natives can fit into an organization and how their Digital Immigrants can offer instruction and get the results they seek from their Natives.
I agree that age doesn't matter here.
I know lots of 30, 40, 50 who would fit this profile and I'm sure there are plenty of people in their 20s who wouldn't.
If I could add a 5th point, I think a Digital Native is also one who is always looking to try new things. For example, being the first person to want to try a new technology like Google Wave and is excited about putting it through its paces.
Basically, I don't think this was a very imaginative post and Brian could have done a better job feeding the HS Blog mill than this. The article basically read "if you weren't born with a mouse in your crib, you're not in the Digital Native club". Maybe this wasn't his intent, but indeed the result was pretty clumsy. Let's do our best not to forget which age group initially developed the internet and all the supporting digital technology enabling the 'Natives'. By the way, this is my second attempt at responding to this post, initially I was multi-tasking at breakfast, reading the post on my Blackberry, but I guess my first response didn't go through - will HS accept comments from handheld devices, or do I just get a +1 for trying and a -1 for not succeeding? :-)
I love Hubspot which is why I am so dismayed by this article. While it may not have been intended to be ageist, it certainly reads that way. Moreover, it clearly promotes hiring practices that are ageist in kind & by extension, discriminatory. If readers don't see that than they have missed the point of your "vocabulary." By necessity, anyone who is 40+ is a digital immigrant no matter how "fluent" they may be. Instead of running this article past your marketing people, consider running it past your HR people to see how happy they would be. Sadly, it does not put Hubspot in a favorable light.
My suggestion: unless you actually mean exactly what you've written, I'd recommend a follow-up piece that allows for the fact that despite their "immigrant status" digital immigrants can & have achieved native status [noting that by nature of the vocabulary that you've deployed, there's an entirely different demographic that this article may offend]. Need proof? There's a huge swath of digital pioneers who are by your definition, immigrants; guys with names like Jobs, Gates, Dell, etc. They didn't "grow up with this stuff," they helped to invent it.
Ellen and Peter - I didn't mean to say that people over a certain age couldn't be natives. There are plenty of natives who are over 40 or 50. People who invented digital technology are definitely natives! If you are interested in new ways of interacting with information, and create new methods and ways of interacting with technology and data like those names that you listed, then you are most certainly a digital native! There's no age restriction on being a native like there is to be a Boomer, Gen X, or anything like that. I hope that is more clear.
Brian: If you'd like to ammend this article that's fine & appreciated but I am sorry, as it's written it's ageist. By your definition" digital natives" are teens & young professionals. Furthermore at the top of the piece you go so far as to say hire more of these people [natives]. That is either bad writing or bad marketing & policy. It's one or the other but it cannot be both.
Furthermore, referring to your book [in the 2nd paragraph] you clearly state that in it, you recommend against hiring immigrants instead of natives. Doesn't get more ageist & discriminatory than that no matter how high anyone rates on your quizz. Back to the drawing board.
I am a Gen Y Digital Native, however the vast majority of 20-somethings I know would not be considered a Digital Native. Although they have been brought up with computers and are very comfortable with them, they lack the curiosity and persistence it takes to solve a problem.
Ask a group of people of any age how to complete a task and many will sit and discuss it and resolve to figure it out later. Only the digital native will immediately jump on a computer and Google 50 different search queries and reach the ends of the Internet in order to find the answer. They don't want to wait, they want to know *now*.
Of course, this could be a big problem when it comes to efficiency and productivity. But determination is the digital native's best quality and should be used to an organization's advantage.
Ellen, you bring up a lot of interesting issues, but I believe that you're missing the point(s)!
Brian's description might have touched on some qualities that may usually apply to that younger person in your company, but the point system he created can clearly apply to anyone - no matter what age they are! (I notice that several 40+ people have self identified as having aced the test.)
Things like being able to navigate any computer placed in front of them, ability to multi-task, capability with hand-held devices and natural inclination to tackle difficult challenges alone rather than through collaboration are distinctions that a person of any age group can achieve.
This is a terrific article. I am in the process of hiring right now and you expressed the type of person I am looking to hire. You are describing a problem-solver, knowledge-seeker. These are exactly the personality traits, regardless of age, that are needed to succeed in this space.
I think any company needs both and Digital Native and a Digital Immigrant. Each lends itself to different tasks and aspeccts of a company. And I feel that both Native and Immigrant can be of any age, not just "a cultural subset of teens and young professionals". I know and work with a group of Natives that are past the teens and young professionals and do a terrific job.
Shannon: Thanks for your comment. I think there's a distinction to be made here that you've overlooked. My comment speaks to the article as it was written. This means I had to set aside all that I'd like to believe about Hubspot having been a follower for quite some time. After my post & Peter's Brian interjected a comment to clarfy his position which is what I said was needed. However when someone submits a piece, you have to comment on the piece that's written, not what you hope they mean. Some one wrote a comment that expresses my view perfectly:
"just because you weren't born with a mouse in your crib doesn't mean your not a digital native!":)))
This is pure reality. I bought a super-mobile phone one month ago and if you take my call logs there are just a few of them. Most for my mom!!!! i use it for twitter, facebook, feeds and to browse on internet, but not for doing phone calls!!! My friends criticize me but it seems that they just don´t understand that I need a mobile phone to communicate, not to talk. We should change the name from "phone" to something else like "communicator", or "connector"...
Great article, congatulations
@ellen So maybe it would feel better if there was a "If you came out a native and your over ** add +1"
My cell phone reception at home is poor, so I have a land line. I didn't take exception to that point in the posting, I self adjusted my score for mitigating circumstances.
hey David. Thanks for your comment. I think that's pre-tty stingy on your part!:)) If you're an immigrant & come out a native don't you think you serve a a bigger "bonus!":))
Seriously though, I work with companies that make mistakes like all the time & where does it get them? Involved in a law suit. If I can spare Hubspot [& anyone else reading this running commentary] a little less hassle, I think it's worthwhile. Besides where I come from discrimination of any stripe is a gigantic no-no.
Wow--you seem to have hit a few nerves.
I don't think this post was ageist. My nieces are all Gen Y gals, and not all of them are natural digital natives by this definition. I, on the other hand, pretty much fit the definition--at age 57.
So don't take offense if you don't fit the criteria and happen to be older. It's a processing style, not an indictment!
this post is a little shocking to me!
I have been I supporter of the Hubspot blog I would say for a about a year now and definitely loved most of the stuff you guys post, it's great and insightful information. Well done!
I guess I have to be a digital immigrant as I bought my first laptop about 4 years ago, but since then have developed a lot of skill in the field of digital media and now am striving towards a career as a top seo and sem specialist.
Now, what you're pretty much saying in this article is that digital digital natives should be favored before digital immigrants which contradicts the usual Hubspot information syndication philosophy... A little disappointed of this hypocritical inclined blog post!
Hey Brian-
Here is a link to my corresponding blog post! BTW: Don't worry, I still love Hubspot!:)
http://ellengunty.typepad.com/consultantschronicles/2009/11/this-weeks-line-of-the-week-belongs-to-peter-rastello-peter-i-were-both-commenters-about-a-thought-provoking-article-writte.html
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