Zero Percent Idle

Most young people who grew up with the 21st century technology and understands the value in using it to seek out opportunities with a view to make impact is often referred to as digital natives.


Technology has changed the way we live- some are more bizarre than others. But Tech age and the emergence of a generation that know nothing else but a digital life should not stifle what is good about life. Technology comes with the good of making things easier but the down side of it is that we fall into the trap of multi-tasking and joggling so many things. Like we have on the computer, we live life opening many windows simultaneously and shuffling between the pages. This justifies that argument about technology almost turning us into robots. Our gadgets must not enslave us.


In “Who are the digital natives? And What do they want?” Tim Windsor on “Zero Percent Idle,” effortlessly described how this generation is different from the older generation. According to him, there are “…8 differentiating characteristics of the Net Generation Norms. Each norm is a cluster of attitudes and behaviors that define the generation. These norms are central to understanding how this generation is changing work, markets, learning, the family, and society.”


The characteristics include us wanting freedom in everything we do, from freedom of choice to freedom of expression; the love to customize everything, from desktop to t-shirts :); we are good scrutinizers and expect transparency; we look for corporate integrity and openness when deciding what to buy and where to work; we want entertainment and play in our work, education, and social life; we are the collaboration and relationship generation; we have a need for speed- rapid communication, instant messages etc; we are innovative in nature and thus seek innovative companies as employers and constantly looking for innovative ways to collaborate, entertain, learn, and work.


In the 2011 Nigeria Elections, technology played an interesting role. Young people, the digital natives, maximized the different social networking sites to monitor and share experiences about the elections in their community. We had websites such as www.nigeriaelections.org monitoring and reporting on election trends. And we also saw the launch of ReVoDa, an application that “seeks to potentially turn the 87,297,789 Nigerians with mobile phones, 43,982,200 with internet access into informal election observers.” Revoda made it possible for voters “to report from their respective polling units across Nigeria, after registration.” It worked. Many young Nigerians used it accordingly. For more info visithttp://revoda.org.ng


Indeed, it is difficult to find anyone idle these days. Even those that do not have personal computers now use mobile phones to access the Internet. This is an information age; we cannot allow ourselves to remain in obscurity, or remain a "siddon dey look" generation.