Technology for every generation serves different purposes. Some use it to stay up to date or simply for communication purposes. Others may use it for their entertainment and enjoy a mass function of social media sites that allow others to freely express their thoughts and ideas. In the “Visitors and Residents” video and article, David White and his colleague, Allison Le Cornu, discuss the benefits to the new terminology for users of technology compared to the what was known previously. White and Le Cornu first discuss the previous concepts of digital native and digital immigrant, comparing them to learning a language. Learning a language may come easier to those who have grown up with it versus those who are learning in adulthood. In this sense, he identifies that this creates a generational division, and in fact, is not the best way to categorize users. They explain how this terminology limited each generation to a certain amount of knowledge about the internet. Instead, he uses visitors and residents, which allows for a broader scope between technology and its users.
Visitors are those who use the internet to complete some sort of task or goal, staying generally anonymous and leaving little to no digital footprint. These users tend to stay away from social media platforms and use the internet for simple purposes, such as shopping for clothes or looking up directions.
Residents, on the other hand, utilize the internet for entertainment, communication, and generally have a greater amount of social presence. They tend to share more about their lives and what they are doing. They consider the internet to serve as communal ground where people can share their lives and passions. I consider myself to be a resident as I have many social media platforms. I have grown up with technology for my entire life and and do spend a generous amount of time on the internet
I also found myself in agreement with Mesch and his perspective on the internet. In his writings, he discusses technological determinism and those who grew up in a world surrounded by technology. I have to say I agree — kids today who grew up in a “media-rich environment” tend to be more reliant on technology. This even comes in play with new versus old technology. Kids today have no idea what a VHS tape or fax machine is or even how to properly send a physical letter because of the rapid change and advancement in this field. Instead they rely on their iPhones and messaging apps to do all the work for them. I think this is why I agree with Mesch because of these factors. Tying this into White and Le Cornu’s concept, a majority of kids in the last few generations are heavily reliant on the internet and therefore are residents.
In today’s society, I think it’s becoming more difficult not to become a resident as social media serves so many purposes, such as communicating with friends and family or finding out what is happening with the stock market. Especially now that we are in a world that is dominated by social media, it is almost a requirement since most of the new we get is served to us in the form of a digital post. I think with new technological advances, the world will continue to change and people will become even more accustomed to using the internet for everything.
