Protecting your personal data has never been more important. However, not everyone understands the threats in the same way and others ignore their role and responsibility in their own protection.
A recent survey shows that baby boomers (birthdates early-to-mid 1940s to early 1960s) and millennials (1980s to early 2000s) unsurprisingly disagree in their attitudes toward federal cyber programs.
About 57 percent of millennials said they were willing to take greater responsibility for the cybersecurity of their work and personal devices. However, only 38 percent of baby boomers agreed to do the same.
Both baby boomers and millennials have access to the same technology. However, the behavior towards technology and its usage differs between the two generations.
At 83.1 million, millennials now officially outnumber the baby boomer generation by roughly 8 million. One of the main distinguishing factors between the two generations is technology – the adoption of, the comfort-ability with, and the responsibility for its continued evolution.
As a generation that has grown up connected, online, and faced with a world of infinite choices in their day to day lives, it is easy to see why they are comfortable with the responsibility for their own cyber protection.
Millennials are a generation faced with new and varied financial challenges, such as extensive debt and underemployment. Because of this, they are more cost-conscious and careful where they decide to spend their money. This may also play into why they are willing to take measures to protect their personal data.
As the millennial generation begins to overshadow its predecessors in both size and spending power, companies are learning how to capitalize on the unique spending habits of this diverse demography.
This isn’t to say that the baby boomer generation do not see the value in technology. It may not be the way of life like it is for millennials, but the boomers are going to be drawn to household and health technologies designed to ease and support everyday activities. Think about it, when the boomers were first introduced to technology around 1960s, it had little impact on their everyday lives. Millennials, on the other hand, are digital natives.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
