Digital natives are constantly multitasking
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:12 am
Most digital natives don’t think about how a site or application might work, and they don’t take the time to figure it out. They dive right in and just expect it to work; quickly and intuitively! They also read even less than digital immigrants. This can cause them to miss important instructions. In short, their impatience makes them prone to making mistakes.
In addition, they have little tolerance for errors, slowness and poor usability of digital products. Popular sites like Google and Facebook are the norm and have set the bar high. As a result, digital natives have high expectations. If an application crashes or does not work as well as expected, they simply look for a replacement. In addition, when something goes wrong, digital natives blame the product or technology, not themselves. This is in stark contrast to the reactions of most digital immigrants.
Technology means fun
Most of the electronic devices used by this generation are multifunctional in nature. And entertainment is an integral part of these devices. Digital natives use their devices for:
surfing the internet;
social networking;
listening to music;
watching videos;
taking pictures;
gaming.
UI_DigitalNatives_EntertainmentGeneration_01
UI_DigitalNatives_EntertainmentGeneration_02
Tablets are popular
A relatively large number of digital natives own or have access to a tablet, namely 61%, compared to 32% of the average Dutch households . The iPad is the most popular tablet among this target group, 82% of tablet owners have an benin mobile phone number list iPad. Half of the digital natives with a tablet use it daily. The situations in which the tablet is used are:
at home (89%);
on holiday (43%);
with family and friends (40%).
If we add up all the activities in an 'average' day of a digital native, it results in a day of 27 hours! They have multiple screens open on different devices at the same time, all of which give a notification when 'something new' happens. They are distracted all the time, which fragments their attention. Multi-tasking takes its toll.
UI_DigitalNatives_Fig_Multitasking
Tech-savvy or not?
So, are digital natives as 'tech savvy' as we think? Because they use their devices intensively, these young people are certainly adept users. But because they multitask all day and are constantly exposed to new stimuli, their attention is fragmented, which causes them to make mistakes regularly. In addition, they have little patience and limited tolerance. If we take stock, this generation is indeed tech savvy, but not necessarily more effective than digital immigrants.
So digital natives are really different from the generation before them, both in their use of online technology and in their views on it. This means that we have to think differently when we design for this group of people, who are between 15 and 25 years old.
In addition, they have little tolerance for errors, slowness and poor usability of digital products. Popular sites like Google and Facebook are the norm and have set the bar high. As a result, digital natives have high expectations. If an application crashes or does not work as well as expected, they simply look for a replacement. In addition, when something goes wrong, digital natives blame the product or technology, not themselves. This is in stark contrast to the reactions of most digital immigrants.
Technology means fun
Most of the electronic devices used by this generation are multifunctional in nature. And entertainment is an integral part of these devices. Digital natives use their devices for:
surfing the internet;
social networking;
listening to music;
watching videos;
taking pictures;
gaming.
UI_DigitalNatives_EntertainmentGeneration_01
UI_DigitalNatives_EntertainmentGeneration_02
Tablets are popular
A relatively large number of digital natives own or have access to a tablet, namely 61%, compared to 32% of the average Dutch households . The iPad is the most popular tablet among this target group, 82% of tablet owners have an benin mobile phone number list iPad. Half of the digital natives with a tablet use it daily. The situations in which the tablet is used are:
at home (89%);
on holiday (43%);
with family and friends (40%).
If we add up all the activities in an 'average' day of a digital native, it results in a day of 27 hours! They have multiple screens open on different devices at the same time, all of which give a notification when 'something new' happens. They are distracted all the time, which fragments their attention. Multi-tasking takes its toll.
UI_DigitalNatives_Fig_Multitasking
Tech-savvy or not?
So, are digital natives as 'tech savvy' as we think? Because they use their devices intensively, these young people are certainly adept users. But because they multitask all day and are constantly exposed to new stimuli, their attention is fragmented, which causes them to make mistakes regularly. In addition, they have little patience and limited tolerance. If we take stock, this generation is indeed tech savvy, but not necessarily more effective than digital immigrants.
So digital natives are really different from the generation before them, both in their use of online technology and in their views on it. This means that we have to think differently when we design for this group of people, who are between 15 and 25 years old.