The New Boundary

While most Western countries are having fierce debates about immigration and naturalization -- fighting over who is in' and who is 'out' -- we are overlooking where the real modern boundary issue is:  the internet.  In the new country of the Internet, some people are digital natives and some people are digital immigrants.  This is not a division by nationality, ethnic group, racial group or religion; this is a division by age.   Children are growing up with access to the internet as something that is just part of life.  They know their way around it like a familiar country.  They know its customs, its pathways, its lingo.  Children are the 'digital natives'.  On the other hand, adults are the 'digital immigrants' -- we struggle to learn the language and rules and, compared to the upcoming generations, we will never feel like insiders.  It will never really be home. The nice thing about this immigration battle, however, is that it is truly transnational.  And even if we adults are the immigrants, there is no legal restriction to our citizenship.