DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS ON THE GENERATION OF DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS

Abstract

This research was aimed to discover the disparity of digital literacy skills on the generation of digital immigrants by comparing it with several criteria namely demographic factors, interest in fields of science, familiarity with computer, the length of accessing internet. Digital literacy is a ability of an individual in using technology and information through digital media effectively and efficiently in various contexts such as career, academic education, and daily life (Gilster, 1997). The term of digital immigrants is referring to individuals who undergo the transition phase in which they were born before the rapid era of technology but learn to adapt to the development of technology amidst their lives. The population of this research was individuals born before the 20 century or born before 1990 and introduced with computer at High School, college, or work.The sample collection technique used purposive sampling which resulted in 135 people. The scale arranged by the researcher was based on the level of digital literacy skills by Takenouchi (2004) which consists of mechanical literacy, life literacy, and social literacy. The research results indicated that there was a significant difference between digital literacy skills of immigrants natives group based on education levels (sig 0.000), familiarity with computer (sig. 0.000), sex type (sig 0.002), and occupation (sig 0.004). The digital literacy skills of this group was categorized are in the low to medium level. Thus, it is expected that this group will acquire educations in understanding technology to prevent misunderstanding issue and the misuse of digital-based information.

Keywords: digital generation, digital immigrants, digital literacy, digital literacy skills