According to the Pew Internet & American Life Tech User Quiz, I am a Digital Collaborator within the Motivated by Mobility category. After reading The Mobile Difference, I personally felt that I was more aligned with the Ambivalent Networkers, which would make sense based on the group demographics (male, late 20s). Digital Collaborators like to create and share via personal websites, blogs, podcasts, etc. They are self-proclaimed “nerds”. Side note: I have lots of techie friends, but I’m not a fan of how they call themselves “nerds”. It’s a badge of honor to them. It’d be like if I told all of you “I’m awesome.” Anyway, I use ICTs i.e. my iPhone, laptop, iPod, etc. on a daily basis to work, connect with others and to stay updated on news, entertainment and industry-related topics. When publishing, I do my best to avoid becoming a me-former (someone who talks about themselves all the time). I use Twitter quite a bit to comment on news items and other areas of interest. As do other Ambivalent Networkers, there are times when I feel ICTs are intrusive in my life even though it’s my own fault. I choose to stay plugged in.
The Horrigan article also mentioned that Ambivalent Networkers text more than any other group. I’m not sure how many text messages the average person sends in a given week or month, so I don’t have a basis to compare myself with others. I probably send more than 1,000 text messages per month, but probably less than 2,000. I’m guessing that’s above average. The article also said the Ambivalent Networkers watch the least amount of TV, with only 24% watching TV in a given day. I’m in that 24%. TV is one way I relax, whether it be watching a game or a favorite show.
Overall, I liked the distinction between Motivated by Mobility and Stationary Media Will Do users. I think it’s pretty cut and dry when grouping people into one of these categories. However, the groups within these categories isn’t so simple. I shared traits from multiple groups, as I’m sure many of you did as well. Our access, actions and attitudes towards ICTs is not as neat as this survey attempts to make it. Individuals are different and motivations are complex.
Hi Tim,
Very interesting!I really enjoyed reading your Blog entry. I liked the way you compared and contrasted the results of your quiz with your actual way of using the iphone, ipad, cell phone…etc to come up with the conclusion that “it’s pretty cut and dry when grouping people into one of these categories.” The survery cannot be accurate 100% because we all share traits from multiple groups. I strongly agree with you because I experienced the same thing after I read all about my report and about the other users types and realized that besides being a desktop Veterant, I can be a Media Movers user or a Drifting Surfers user.
Funny – I scored the same as you (Digital Collaborator) but feel as though I could also be labeled an Ambivalent Networker, of which I wrote about in my discussion post before ever even reading yours. You are a great writer and I appreciated reading your thorough post. Also, I agree with “rsasali” in that the survey does not appear to be completely accurate since most of us fall under multiple categories in terms of being tech-savvy. I think it’s a little hard to slap a technological label, per se, on people when the world of technology is constantly growing and there really is no standard for what really counts as being technologically advanced. After all, my mom thought she was queen of technology once she finally upgraded to an iPhone and had 24/7 access to texting in the internet, something that the rest of us have had for many years now, haha!
Your statements were nothing short of extraordinary. Like you, I was found to be a digital collaborator by the user quiz, but felt like I was best described by a different category. I also send several text messages a month to my family to let them know where I am or where I’m heading during my commutes home. You seem to really be attached to your friends. They could definitely help you out if you ever have trouble with any technology.
I would agree with you on the comment about avoiding becoming a “me-former” which is one reason why the quiz was slightly off as placing me in the digital Collaborator group.