digital immigrant

[ dij-i-tl im-i-gruhnt ]

noun

, Digital Technology.

1. a person who has become familiar with computers, the internet, and other digital technology as a young adult or later in life. Compare digital native.

digital immigrant

noun

1. informal.
   a person who has become used to using information technology as a young adult Compare digital native analogue

Word History and Origins

Origin of digital immigrant¹

First recorded in 2001; coined by Marc Prensky, born 1946, American educator and consultant, on analogy with an immigrant who must learn a new language

Example Sentences

Heck, you might not even be a digital immigrant.

From Forbes

If you’re a digital immigrant as I am, there’s something deeply satisfying about Michael S. Rosenwald’s report in the Washington Post that “millennials still strongly prefer print for pleasure and learning, a bias that surprises reading experts given the same group’s proclivity to consume most other content digitally.”

From Los Angeles Times

Another first-time participant in the NewFronts, whose presentation preceded BuzzFeed’s, is a digital immigrant — i.e., a legacy-media company: The New York Times, which used its event to formally introduce its video offerings under the banner of Times Video, with the slogan “Beyond words.”

From New York Times

Those who don’t turn to the pros for help often seek succor from family and friends, a form of bonding between the Digital Native and Digital Immigrant generations built around questions such as, “Why doesn’t my phone get e-mail anymore?”

From Washington Post

If you take an fMRI of the brain of a digital native like today’s students and compare it to a similar scan of a digital immigrant, like many of their professors, you can see the difference.

From Slate