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How Different Are Today’s Teens?
By Richard Nantel | February 13, 2008
For the last couple of days, I’ve been attending the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in NY city. Yesterday’s closing session ended with a “Teen Panel.” Eight young people, seven girls in their teens and one boy aged 22, were seated up on stage and answered questions from the moderator and the audience.
The aim of this session was to illustrate the differences between conference attendees, who were overwhelmingly members of the boomer generation, and young people. The questions touched a wide range of issues. Here are a few:
How do you listen to music? Everyone answered that they listen to music on their computers and their iPods. Hi-fi stereo systems don’t exist for this generation.
Do you ever use e-mail? Most answered rarely or never. One young woman said “e-mail is so 90s.”
Do you ever sign up for e-newsletters? No. Mostly, they hate these things and think of them as spam.
Do you use your cell phone for anything other than text messaging and calling people? All eight had cell phones. A couple occasionally play built-in games such as Tetris to kill time. None surf the Web with their phones. Most had many ringtones.
Facebook or MySpace? Overwhelmingly Facebook. Two use neither. None use MySpace anymore but had in the past. By the way, if you want to stop sounding square, stop calling it “my Facebook profile.” These young people say “My Facebook” as in “I’m adding photos to my Facebook.” (This explains the smirks my daughters give me at the dinner table.)
How many friends do you have? Most have hundreds but identified a half dozen that were close friends. Close friends were defined as those to which you confide.
Do you care about the brand of clothing you buy? All said no. As long as the clothes were attractive, comfortable, and low-cost, they didn’t care who made them.
Mac or PC? They may not care about the brand of clothing they wear, but they were passionate about computer platforms. The majority were using Macs.
Democrat or republican? Overwhelmingly democrat. Only one republican. (The outcome would likely have been different in other parts of the country.)
For or against gay marriage? All approve of gay marriage, including the young woman who identified herself as republican and conservative.
Which do you use most, text messaging or instant messaging? They use both but lean more towards instant messaging. One young woman said the problem with text messaging is that “it takes forever just to say Hi.” Most said they often use Facebook to contact friends.
When do you make your plans for Saturday night? Most said Saturday morning. A couple said they would text friends around dinner time to get together. One likes to make plans a week in advance.
How do you assess if the information you find on the Web is accurate? When doing research for school, they’ll check multiple sites to see if they all say the same thing.
How much TV do watch? Most report watching about one hour per day.
What television shows do you like to watch? Overwhelmingly, these people watch and enjoy reality shows. The young man was the exception, saying he loved one of my favorite shows, 30 Rock.
Do you exercise? All but one exercise three times or more per week. And this was real exercise, not walking to the fridge to get a snack. Most were part of sports teams, including basketball, swimming, etc. One did yoga; a couple took dance lessons. They were all slim and fit looking.
Do you volunteer? All but one had volunteered regularly; many on a weekly basis. These were either personal projects or volunteer projects organized by their schools.
Do you think your future will be better than your parents’ future? A couple said yes, but most seemed worried about this. One young woman with dreams of being an artist said “I hope I never have to abandon my dream to pay the bills.”
How do you like to study? I was expecting them to say they study while watching TV, IM-ing friends, and listening to music. But, this wasn’t the case. Most report they needed quiet to study.
Do you use your school textbooks? Most reported they have textbooks but rarely, if ever, used them.
When was the last time you went to a public library? For most, it’s been a long time, but they did all visit their school libraries recently.
When was the last time you went to a bookstore? Nearly all have been to a bookstore in the last few days. They were all there to browse and kill time. Bookstores appear to be a very popular hangouts for teens.
§ § §
So, how different are young people today? Not so much. Sure, they’ve abandoned e-mail and hi-fi stereo systems, but this generation is significantly closer to the values and habits of their parents than we were growing up in the 60s and 70s. Back then, our pretty square parents (sorry mom, sorry dad) had to deal with kids exploring free love, drugs, rock and roll, and more.
Think of young people today as like us, only better. They’re more in touch with the world around them. More committed to their communities. More health conscious. Sheesh. They like to hang out in bookstores. What’s not to love about these people?
What’s amazing is that these young people don’t seem bitter. They’re inheriting significant environmental, economic, and social problems. Thank goodness a better generation will be around to tackle these challenges.
Topics: Generational differences, TOC2008, Teens |
February 13th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
[...] who were overwhelmingly members of the boomer generation, and young people. The questio source: How Different Are Todays Teens?, Richard [...]
February 13th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Richard, thanks for this intriguing post.
I was struck by the non-use of email. I suppose that as teens, they haven’t for the most part been in work/organization structures, which is where most people over 30 got exposed to email in the first place. (Neither good nor bad, just different.)
The low use of the library doesn’t surprise me because I’m assuming they have their own computers and high-speed access. (Use of the public computers in my local county library is higher and higher, and attributed by staff to the relatively low availability of computers in lower-income households.)
This may not have been part of the session’s focus: do any of them have blogs? If so, for what purpose? And do their classes make use of any social software? (The Washington Post recently published an essay by an area teacher describing what he sees as misused technology.)
February 14th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Dave:
Thanks for the excellent comment. About the lack of use of e-mail by young people today, I think this is something of which organizations should be aware. The corporate world is so e-mail-centric, yet the next generation thinks it’s square, outdated technology.
Imagine you’re a boomer who gets hired by a firm and is asked to compose your memos using a typewriter? Would you think you were working for an innovative, dynamic organization or would you think you worked for a slow moving company doomed to become obsolete?
Years ago, I did a project for a Canadian telecommunications firm. The company was running a four-year old version of the Internet Explorer browser. The workers I spoke to were ashamed of this, as if I had uncovered the deep dark secret that their company wasn’t the technology powerhouse they hoped it was.
Since organizations like a trail, using a corporate IM platform that logs the content of conversations or may make more sense.
About the use of libraries, you might like this:
http://pizdaus.com/pics/bbPhCEb9JDn7ctKrq7.jpg
About blogs, that would have been a great question to ask. I had a sense that many of these people were conscious of the risks of having a public profile on the Web. The reason some of them abandoned MySpace was because they no longer felt it was safe.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:24 am
I came away from that session rather amazed at the real lack of any imaginative use of technology. Interestingly enough, the audience of boomers and Xers (I’m an Xer) were more tech savvy than they were. Why? Well, I think you properly noted that this group seemed much more aware of privacy issues than, say, the present college-aged and up. This may just be because parents and teachers have drummed it into their heads, but they were quite ordinary in their technological choices. (The thirteen-year-old did suggest several sites, such as gridhopper, which hint at more “creative” awareness of the Web than they were letting on.) None of them contributed in any way creatively to the net–even the art-student. They just as actively consumed magazine content. IM was a no-show (which, consider how much richer it is as a media than text messaging is rather interesting–perhaps we human beings enjoy being able to compose our thoughts before we send them, and so appreciate forced hesitation). The one girl who mentioned videoblogging was only after embarrassing her brother. She didn’t even think of the Web as a platform for self-expression and creative development. Perhaps instead of a teen panel, conference moderators should ask college freshmen. IMHO, it is the college students who have the tech by the throat. (Side note: I’m the one who told that one girl that she shouldn’t worry about making a living in art, but should go and do her best and then come work for publishing. I said this partly because her outlook on the future was pathetic, but also because these kids on the whole were grossly unaware of the extremely dynamic economic changes that make conferences like TOC necessary! What are these teachers, parents, and guidance counselors telling these kids? Creativity is the true limited resource, not oil or gold. It is a great time to love and embrace the liberal arts. Astounding that these teens have to suffer with the same old “keep something practical in your back pocket” advice that heckled the rest of us. Hey, kids, this is a conference about /technology/ and /publishing/ and /media/ and /words/ and /digital/ stuff!!! So go get those degrees in artistic design and composition and make our products–no matter the country–impossible to reproduce in some multicubic techsweatshop in China or India.)
February 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am
What excellent comments. Thanks Thom.
You echo Daniel Pink (”A Whole New Mind,”) in suggesting that the future belongs to creative types. I too doubt very much that these young people are being encouraged by their teachers and parents to investigate careers that embrace creativity.
Although these young people didn’t suggest they were using the Web as a blank canvas for their creative energies, nearly all of them mentioned that used Facebook. My 14 year-old is an excellent photographer and videographer and prefers uploading her work there even though she also has Flickr and Youtube accounts.
February 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I am one of “those teachers” people enjoy lambasting. Here is the reality. I am very creative. I paint. I do photography. I write. I try to encourage my students to think metaphorically and employ multiple thinking strategies in Social Studies or whatever else I am assigned. It is probably one of the most challenging things they are faced with. I groan just as hard as they do at times but I know that the destination will be worth it.
Instead of “creative” assessment,
the educational system fosters “forced choice” fill-the-bubble and pass-like-a-monkey tests. They are trained by a teachers who enforce policy makers (we can lose our jobs if we think too far outside the box) to think unilaterally, to stay within the lines, and make sure that all is right in the world by colouring every noon hour sun yellow. Creativity isn’t easy to embrace under those conditions, particularly when they are teens. Sometimes just turning a piece of paper sideways or using plain newsprint can generate a more thought. I am constantly reminded by Ray Bradbury who wrote “Why give them an education when all they will do is push buttons.” I can’t talk fast enought to keep them engaged given the onslaught of digital trivial. Stop blaming the schools. It is a cultural phenomenon. It is a political problem. And one day, it will be an economic burden.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Bon: thanks for the sober comments about the lack of creativity in today’s students. What do you think is the cause of this?
Does it stem from the ability of today’s young to get answers to any question at the touch of a “Google Search” button? Consequently, the joys of discovery are gone.
Or, could we be seeing the result of budget cuts to art and music programs over the last few years?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:49 am
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