“We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past.”
— Miguel de Unamuno

When it comes to technology skills,  older doesn’t always mean wiser.

That is because the youth of today is growing up digitally, which means they’re hopping from tablets to televisions to mobile phones without batting an eye or missing a finger swipe. In turn, companies, including banks, are struggling to determine how to serve this demographic’s advanced technology habits and new media skills.

David Houle, a renowned futurist and media expert, pointed to this behavior movement during his keynote speech at Landmark’s digital media 2020 venture forum held last week in New York.

Houle, dressed in only black, said 2012 marks the first year where graduating high school seniors are pure digital natives, i.e, those individuals who have grown up on digital technology. His point has major implications for businesses nationwide, particularly as digital natives enter the workplace.

“It’s second nature to the younger generation,” said Gabe Goodwin, director of social media integration and production at ESPN, the sports channel, during a separate session at the event.

Because youth often know technology better than adults, brands have been struggling to stay relevant to this demographic because their behaviors are different from what they, as “digital immigrants,” know. An example? Some children watch a television on mute, and add audio by plugging headphones into their iPhones, devices with better audio, to listen to a program.

This means – particularly to digital natives – that there are two realities: digital and physical, Houle argued.

“Sometimes your screen reality is more important than your physical reality,” said Houle. “The concept of place is getting eviscerated.”

Beyond the need for banks to stay tuned to the ever-changing technology behavior changes among their customers, three other worthwhile points emerged during the forum that have relevance to bankers, including:

• Content providers must reach readers wherever they want to be. “The goal for content providers is to simplify and provide it wherever they want it,” ESPN’s Goodwin said;
• With digital advances, the notion of power has moved from producer to consumer; and
• In mobile, advertisements that interrupt a user won’t work well. “Disruptive advertising is not something consumers want,” said Rob Weiss, chief operating officer of EQAL, a celebrity site.