Categories According to a Person's Relationship to Technology

Categories According to a Person's Relationship to Technology

It is important to note that there are other ways to sort people in these groups besides age. We can do so according to their attitudes towards and comprehension of modern digital technologies. Feeney (2010), Toledo, (2007) and others describe acontinuum of people's relationships to the digital world, which is not based on a person's date of birth but on their relationships, attitudes and practices in regard to digital technologies. Following are categories that differentiate people according to their comprehension, understanding and comfort with technology rather than their age.
Avoider The Luddites are true avoiders of modern technologies. They use landlines and avoid email and the Internet. The newspapers they like to read arrive via snail mail carrier, not via Internet server. Some of these ultimate avoiders are simply old digital immigrants who cannot relate to modern technology, and others are digital natives who some may call the "Neo-Luddites" who philosophically oppose the use of the Internet and other modern online technologies.
Minimalist Members of this group use technology reluctantly. They may be digital immigrant reluctant adopters or digital native minimalists. Minimalists have an email account and probably a Facebook profile (hard to avoid these days) but do not check them regularly. They have a cellphone, but do not need or desire to be online via the phone. No smartphones are necessary or wanted by this group. Like the avoiders, this group reads the newspaper in paper form.
Tourists These are the people who feel like visitors in the digital world. They pay attention to the 'local' or 'native' digital culture, learn its language, observe its rituals, and comprehend its complexities. This group keeps internal distance from technology even though they tend to use it appropriately and effectively, as needed, but not extensively. This is group stays internally non-digital in regard to preferences and values.
Enthusiastic or Eager Adopter This group has fun with technology! They enjoy the latest iPhone and talk about its features; the iPad is fascinating even if they don't have one. This group - if they do not own a new product themselves - is ready and excited to try out the product of a friend and enjoy the process. They participate in online discussions via Facebook, news sites, blogs or online education. They may write online content (a column, a blog) themselves. Members of this group check email and are online throughout the day, find technology interesting, have a smartphone, and are on Facebook. They get their news online, not via print.
Innovator Members of this group are not only enthusiastic, they work with technology to improve it. These are game developers, programmers, engineers, technology writers, professors, and (gasp) hackers. While hackers do not improve technology for the rest of us, they are affecting it, not just using it. Innovators build websites, create applications and perform other online creation functions for their fellow innovators.
Over-User or Addict As the name indicates, digital addicts are heavily dependent on technology to occupy their time. Millions of young people all over the world are in this group - many of them gamers. When digital immigrants are in this group, it is usually for gaming or porn, though it can be for social networking also. Members of this group are extremely protective of their "right" to be online, and will become upset, irate and even violent if technology is not available. This group is what many parents, educators and managers accuse average digital natives of being, but this is a mistake. Addicts include those whose physical, mental, emotional, educational, or occupational aspects of their lives are significantly, negatively affected by their excessive use of digital technologies. Examples of people in this group are gamers who play for 18 hours a day, missing school, work and home life. Other members of this group include porn addicts who do not have sex with their spouses in favor of indulging this online addiction.