We’re excited to feature this opinion piece from Igor Trunov, Co-founder and Co-owner of Advisability Group. Igor shares his insights on the emerging cohort of professionals he calls the “Digital Generation”—a group that is not just adapting to, but actively shaping, our digital world.
I am Igor Trunov, Co-founder and Co-owner of Advisability Group—a company specializing in performance marketing, online advertising, and IT. In just six years, what started as a small venture has grown into an international holding company.
Working closely with young entrepreneurs in the digital sphere, many of whom are just like me, I’ve noticed a significant common ground: shared worldviews, values, and even inspiring figures. This is because the digital environment is the reality we all inhabit. I’ve coined the term “Digital Generation” to describe this cohort—those born in the age of VR technology, who grew up with borderless access to information, navigate new communication realities with ease, and are integral to the digital sector. In this article, I will explain why I believe this term is so fitting.
Digital Migrants vs. Digital Natives: Where Did It All Begin?
My curiosity led me to discover that as early as the 2000s, American sociologist Marc Prensky introduced the terms “digital migrants” and “digital natives.” He classified migrants as those who began using IT technologies later in life, in contrast to digital natives, who were born with a “finger on the button.”
While this division is somewhat fluid, digital natives typically include those born after the advent of the internet—starting in the early 1980s—which encompasses Millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha. However, while digital migrants and natives are purely sociological concepts, we, the Digital Generation, are unique because we not only value but actively shape this digital reality.
Statistics show that the internet audience gets younger every year. For instance, by early 2022, the number of unique users reached 5.31 billion. This is easily explained: over the last few decades, IT technologies have transformed the world, essentially dissolving spatial borders for information flow. Their continued advancement has fueled the Internet of Things (IoT). With billions of smart devices connected to the network globally, it’s completely natural for us, the digital natives, to manage a smart home remotely or to study and work without being tied to a single location.
It’s no surprise that we actively leverage these possibilities in business for process automation. Even digital migrants understand that this isn’t just a nice perk but an opportunity for growth and development. However, while IT technologies might pose certain difficulties for them—they adopt new devices slowly and cautiously—we not only grasp their value instantly but also know how to quickly capitalize on it.
What Unites the Digital Generation?
In short, the Digital Generation prefers ordering dinner via apps over going to the grocery store. But, of course, we are united by much more than that.
The Digital Generation tends to:
- Embrace and actively apply new technologies: We adopt new tech instantly, without problems, and don’t get bogged down in the intricacies of how the algorithms work—we just pick it up and do it.
- Be adept at multitasking: We can handle several tasks simultaneously.
- Feel comfortable in a fast-paced world: We thrive in an “instantaneity” mode where everything needs to happen here and now.
- Be less focused on long-term forecasting and easily switch from task to task.
- Find it difficult and uninteresting to concentrate on one task for long: This pace often leads to a more superficial, yet more emotional, approach to everything.
- View work and communication in the digital space as a natural process and habitat.
- Be more democratic: We don’t divide the world into hierarchies and reject control-based management styles.
- Quickly generate ideas, test hypotheses, and launch new projects without fixating on errors: If something doesn’t work, we move on, which often leads to results in a shorter timeframe. What took digital migrants years, the Digital Generation creates and launches in a matter of months.
Perhaps this is because artificial people, anti-aging printers, flexible laptops, and electric vehicles that use sensors to monitor driver engagement aren’t science fiction to us—they are simply modern reality.
The Values of the Generation
By 2030, the Digital Generation will constitute 30% of the global workforce. They make up 100% of my team, and through this lived example, I see what sets us apart from employees of the digital migrant generation. For the latter, adherence to rules, work ethic, and respect for title and status are paramount, and their work is driven by achieving a specific goal.
Employees of the Digital Generation are united by:
- A focus on values, not just goals: It’s important for us not just to solve a problem, but to understand why and what benefit it brings, and how it will impact our lives and the lives of others. These meanings are often more significant than a prestigious title or a large salary.
- Excellent knowledge of SaaS and automation technologies: We are motivated and attracted by the use of modern technology in work processes.
- Viewing social media as a key part of the hiring strategy, and hackathons as an effective HR tool and platform for business interaction with the target audience, hypothesis testing, and getting feedback on services.
- A lack of tolerance for authoritarian management styles: An informal corporate culture is important to us.
- A preference for remote work, freelancing, and other flexible work arrangements.
- A search not so much for stable income, but for a “life’s work”— something genuinely interesting that aligns with our values and contributes to self-actualization.
- A drive for continuous development: We value a well-structured training system within a company where everyone can improve both professional and personal skills.
- An interest in onboarding and mentorship systems where training comes from a peer (a team member of equal standing).
- An interest in systems for promotions and internal transfers: It’s important for us to know that there’s a clear path for career growth within the company.
- An interest in “life-hacking” that helps increase personal productivity and achieve goals in a short amount of time.
- A desire to create a work-life balance.
The Heroes of the Digital Generation
In the information space, it’s often argued that the fate of the Digital Generation was sealed by the release of the first iPhone in 2007 and the first iPad in 2010. But, of course, the story is incomplete without the market entry of giants like Google, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, and eBay, who influenced the development of the digital industry, along with the heavily promoted image of Silicon Valley as a hub of money and talent.
- Page and Brin, the founders of Google, offered the most convenient search engine on the market, using a unique results algorithm. This allowed users not only to find everything about anything in one click but also to use it as an outsourcing tool for their own memory.
- Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook made it possible to communicate online and share information about oneself. Collecting this data allowed marketers to understand people’s interests and show users only what would genuinely catch their attention, leading to the rise of personalized and targeted advertising.
- Jawad Karim and Steve Chen, the ideologists behind YouTube, transformed the entire media industry in just ten years, bringing in a new generation of content creators and video bloggers. People who were completely unknown yesterday can now earn more than movie stars.
- Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, with his self-driving cars, public transit that resembles teleportation, and the idea of connecting the human brain with artificial intelligence, brought home the realization that the future is already here.
These individuals became heroes because they created the conditions and pointed the direction for the Digital Generation. Thanks to the active development of the internet and mobile communication, technology is essentially built into the Digital Generation’s DNA. Overall, over 74% of the Digital Generation believes new technologies make life easier, and 54% feel they help them stay closer to friends and family.
At the same time, the use of the internet and social media has changed consumer behavior and how companies do business. Research indicates that almost 60% of internet users purchase goods online weekly, and this number is growing. Shoppers in the e-commerce world increasingly rely on recommendations, and contextual and targeted advertising for B2B online promotion is being utilized more actively. It’s now seen as a promising modern solution that helps brands successfully advance without reliance on cookies.
The Digital Generation is more than just a group that has accepted the new reality and utilizes the achievements of digitalization and digital transformation. We are actively building this space: creating new tools for its sustainable development and participating in the formation of its ethical principles and values. Because the opportunities that open up are also new challenges, and we are leading the process of transformation associated with them.