Today communication is digital, especially within younger generations. More specifically, Generation Z and Millennials entering college focus on a technological dependent and driven mentality. As a result of this, scholastic professionals need to adapt teaching methods to effectively communicate ideas to these technologically attuned generations. As this generation increases in size, businesses, schools and organizations are adapting to become digitally focused in order to reach this new audience. From an education stand point; professors are creating new methods of teaching and utilizing new techniques in order to communicate lessons plans. Professors are utilizing social media and new technology in the classroom to adapt to this younger audience. While this is a positive adaption to lesson plans, concerns with personal and professional boundaries emerge concerning digital communication with the student population. This study will explore the student populations' perceptions of these boundaries and analyze different situations where professors could possibly invade privacy in an attempt to better communicate digitally and socially. Results from this study suggest that students view non-social media (personal phones and emails) as significantly more private than social media channels. Among the social media channels, Facebook was surprisingly viewed as the most private. In addition, students were most comfortable communicating with their professors through their personal email and mobile devices even though generally these were considered the most private of the channels. Research indicated they were least comfortable using Instagram and Twitter to communicate with their professors. Largely, the same is true for using these channels to complete assignments. Interestingly, the rationale that the students gave for discomfort was highest for general privacy concerns and a desire to keep school separate from their private life, with about half of the students indicating these rationales.
