You’re a digital native reads the online job description. You’re a rockstar, it continues in that smarmy and stroking second-person voice that job posters now embrace.

In a recent discussion unfolding on LinkedIn, I was happy to see marketers’ comments expressing disdain for that sort of hyperbole. Never boast you’re a business rockstar, they advised the office-bound Jonas Bro or l’il Dua Lipa. Stay away from Ninja too. There’s better ways to label those death-defying professional superpowers.

But one popular phrase persists, like this, in a recent ad seeking a media exec:

"Digital native - you were reared online, and you get it."

Oh, I do. I certainly do. Right under my skin. And, I get inspired. Isn’t there other language that that Comms hiring managers and their recruiters might use to describe our essential skills?

Digital grown-up? Nah. Too pouty and patronizing all at once. It's got to be a phrase that represents the opposite of, say, digital dilettante. Or worse, dabbler. Something warmer. Digital human? Perhaps person, or citizen, or soldier?

There’s always digital arriviste, admittedly one of my snarkier favorites. But I know it’s too pejorative, and snobby. Digital carpetbagger? Wish that one…gone with the wind.

Digital savant? It has potential, but implies that otherwise you’re just an idiot. No one wants to be a digital dodo.

While digital native certainly stinks (and wiser Human Resources pros have backed off), there must be a way to expand on the same general theme, and remain inclusive too. I can't say labels like digital colonizer or digital invader would ever be appealing. They're more aggressive than assertive. And nobody wants to see a T-shirt that reads : Digital Strong.

“Digital citizen? Conquerer? Diva or digital doyenne? ”

As for digital dominatrix. I'd need a few different skills for that.

I'm determined to find a term that's right. My own public profile says uses words like citizen and participant. These relatively mild choices might need an upgrade. I’ve turned to my trusty online thesaurus for something more peppy. There’s digital wizard, and digital dynamo. Doyenne perhaps? Anything but digital dinosaur.

I’m willing to admit that my clunky first computer ran WordPerfect not Word. And yes, I once had an AOL address. But I've grown in this and other parts of life. Haven't you?

In the course of that progression, it was my job to teach young adults in my house how to use their first smartphones and laptops? My role was in-house digital adviser. I was a digital doer and delegator, who also made dinner, by the way.

As a living breathing digital inhabitant of the social media space, should I be shy when I enter the room and worry I can’t impress? I make mistakes, a hokey Instagram hashtag best avoided, the regrettable gaffe or mishandled GIF. But imperfect and immersive is the nature of the beast if you want to run with the rest of the pack.

My peers can’t claim we had a touchscreen in the crib; texting was not our first language. This we must concede, to employers and the world. But it’s also right and wise to expect that professional communicators, of any age, will be interested and able, to master a post, tag, Snap, swipe, like, share, Tweet, boost, ping, or DM with some dash and strategic savoir faire.

There's room in that "space" for all of us. I'm joining the drumbeat to cast nativism aside. Let those tired demographic assumptions vanish. Just like your last Geo-filter.