Understanding the world of physical and digital objects: A qualitative exploration

The objects that humans produce and own serve as a primary framework for defining their lives. The nature of these objects has changed over time, as has the interaction between humans and objects. Recently, the digital age has transformed the nature of things, and now, physical and non-physical (digital) possessions coexist. The current study, therefore, attempted to understand what physical and digital objects entail as categories of things and also the engagement of people with these objects. Data was collected from digital natives (18-27 years old) and digital immigrants (28-45 years old) as defined by Prensky (On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-6, 2001), who were residing in Delhi/NCR, India. It was collected in two phases. Phase 1 involved a qualitative survey to explore ideas related to different objects from 35 digital immigrants and 30 digital natives. Phase 2 involved an in-depth exploration of the findings from the earlier phase through semi-structured interviews conducted with 3 digital immigrants and 3 digital natives. Haase's adaptation of Colaizzi's method of analysis (ANS Advances in Nursing Science, 9(2), 64-80, 1987) was employed for analysis. The results revealed two theme clusters - perception of physical objects (physical occupancy, exclusive ownership, relative permanence) and perception of digital objects (internet connectivity, contrasting states of omnipresence and transience, and tangible dependency). As with physical objects, more and more objects connect to the Internet and the Internet of Things has become a reality. This study offers timely insights into the evolving relationship between people and objects.