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The term digital immigrant refers to individuals born in the generations prior to the advent of the Internet. Digital immigrants are a diverse group of individuals who have adopted the Internet and its associated technologies to varying degrees.

In 2001, Marc Prensky introduced the term digital immigrant as a counterpart to the term digital native in the article: Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants which was published in the journal On the Horizon, a Journal of Information which explores emerging technology and its impacts on education and learning. This term is found in academic and popular literature to distinguish the differences in the population with reference to digital technology, its use, and adoption.

Definition
John Palfrey and Urs Gasser in Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives, provide one definition of a digital immigrant as: "A person who has adopted the Internet and related technologies, but who was born prior to the advent of the digital age". Other definitions include the notion that digital immigrants are not a uniform group of individuals in their ability or willingness to adopt digital technologies.

Demographics
A digital immigrant is thought to include two groups of the pre-Internet era. The first group being the older print-oriented generation, who refrain from new digital technology when possible; the second group, which have been called digital settlers whom combine digital technologies with traditional forms of analog interaction in a quite sophisticated manner. The late Marshall McLuhan, thought to be a visionary communication and technology theorist understood the challenges of this diverse group: "This pain, he explains, is experienced by only—two groups—those totally from the old technology, and those stuck in the middle—not those who grow up with it."

Marc Prensky
Both the term digital immigrant and digital native are viewed by Marc Prensky as metaphors to add to our understanding of the phenomenon and the situation of the current population in this digital era, and the differences in their attitudes regarding digital technology.

Learning considerations
According to Larry Rosen in the book Rewired, the learning curve for digital immigrants in this digital era is greater and could consider some of the following principles: Consideration of these principles may aid digital immigrants transition in the digital era, if they wish to adopt new technologies.
 * media are targeted to populations of people
 * media have a point of view and may not represent an individual point of reference
 * various forms of media send different messages