MYTH: All millennials are 'digital natives' and all 'digital natives' are millennials

Ipsos shares it’s  research results on this matter during the Marketing & Insights Event (MIE). Running up to this event we present you one of the greatest myths about millenials: millenials are 'digital natives' and 'digital natives' are millenials.

'Digital native' is often used as a synonym for millenial. This stems from two incorrect assumptions. Firstly, the assumption that all millennials are the same with regard to their technology use and attitudes, and secondly that the use of technology by older generations looks very different from that of millennials. Nothing could be further from the truth. Data on internet use in Europe show that the vast majority of 16 to 24-year-olds and 25 to 34-year-olds (predominantly Millennial age groups) have access to the internet via any device at any location. This pattern repeats itself among the age group of 35 to 54 year olds. (Mainly generation X). The decline in internet access numbers only starts with older groups.

Older millennials are therefore closer to the younger members of generation X than to the younger part of their own generation. So, to assume that all millennials share the same attitude towards technology, or that they are different in all aspects of technology use, is an oversimplification.

Are you curious to find out more myths and truths about Millenials? Then visit the lecture 'Millennials Myths and Realities' at the MIE.