Digital competencies and relationships with new technologies among parents of Gen Z: A contribution to research on the digital gap generation

Abstract

In the context of media use, the attention of both the public and researchers is focused mainly on the extreme age groups. Research interest therefore tends to centre on socalled boomers (1945–1969), Generation Z (1997–2010), and Generation Alpha (2010 and later). These cohorts represent markedly different patterns of media use, information seeking and verification, and relationships with new technologies. Extremes are usually more visible and therefore attract greater interest. This article proposes shifting attention to a group that remains largely on the margins of public debate: today’s 40–50-year-olds (born between 1975 and 1989), the parents of Generation Z and the children of baby boomers and Generation X. According to a pilot study, this cohort displays digital competencies that do not correspond to their current age—above all, to the age at which they first encountered new technologies. The observations and survey results highlight the distinctive features of this generation, suggesting that it can be described as the “digital gap generation.”