I am attempting to unplug from the constant frenzy of checking and responding to email. It’s part of an effort to better manage my time and control my sanity. I’ve been reading up on some of the detrimental effects of constantly checking in with email.

For example: A research report by HP found that 62 percent of workers are “addicted” to checking email, even when they’re on vacation. New research from the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry finds those who constantly disrupt their day to read and respond to email reduce their IQ significantly!

So, for three weeks, I am attempting to only check email twice a day: once in the morning and once after lunch. I have changed my signature on my email to let people know of the change. Today is day one. 74 messages to start the day; 33 after lunch. I’ve found logistically it can be difficult, especially when you are seeking immediate response from an email message.

I recently learned the term “digital native,” used to describe people who have grown up with computer technology – never knew a world that wasn’t centered around the computer, Internet, cell phone, Iphone, Facebook, Ipod, MySpace, Twitter and the 24-hour news cycle. Digital natives are broadly defined as those born after 1980 up until 2000 – people who are now age 9 to 29. Another name for the members in this group is the Millennials or Gen. Y.

I attended a workshop on digital  natives last week presented by a distance learning instructor at CCC where I work. I work in public affairs and do a lot of marketing for the college. Naturally I’m interested in learning about the digital natives as they make up a good part of our market.

Another term for this group is “screenagers” because the computer has always been a part of the way they get information. Characteristics that define this group include technological savvy, family centric, achievement oriented. team oriented and attention craving. The instructor Steve B. recommended checking out the Beloit College Mindset List as a good source to gain perspective about generational differences.

A key generational difference between the digital natives and those of us who were not raised in the computer age but had to learn the skills or “digital immigrants” is how we use technology. For example, the immigrants are likely to print an email whereas the natives don’t. An immigrant will call to make sure someone has received a sent email; the native won’t.

I learned something else at the workshop from a college ESL instructor. She’d been to a conference on e-learning, but many of the ideas she heard were way beyond what she could use in her classroom. “There are assumptions around computer expertise. The digital native experience is not a universal experience,” she said.

And that experience is not limited to English language learners, she said. Even at Portland State, she finds that each term there are four to five students who don’t know how to attach a file to an email. Another person in the workshop told us that about a third of incoming freshman don’t understand technology beyond using Facebook or social networking sites. They don’t know how to email or attach a file. That’s really surprising to me.

The point is that a digital native or digital immigrant is not necessarily defined by age but by experience in technology.  

Steve suggested we view a video on youtube called Shift Happens to understand a bit more about how technology is changing the world.