Interesting article about a survey of 1600 young adults which finds that the global economic crisis is finally kicking in and technology, especially social networking seems to be losing its lustre for young adults, while the reading of good old print based newspapers is up. Who’d of thunk it! The article in the Australian reads,
Communicating with friends online has lost some of its lustre even from as recently as a year ago and they now want to have more face-to-face time.
And they increasingly prefer to do that at home rather than going out to noisy, potentially dangerous pubs and nightclubs, according to the annual Urban Market Research survey compiled by youth marketing agency Lifelounge. The survey of more than 1600 young adults finds those still living with their parents (about half) have noticed the global financial crisis’s impact on the family and pared back their lifestyle in response.
It also shows their love affair with technology is heading for a break-up, with time spent online down 30 minutes a week from last year, while their consumption of newspapers increased by the same amount. Facebook and Twitter are also still on the rise, but losing some of their cachet. Lifelounge chief executive Dion Appel said: “Nostalgia and simplicity … (are) influencing the styles they’re adopting, the products they’re purchasing and their entertainment choices.
“Parents’ vinyl records are suddenly interesting and vintage clothes are de rigueur.
“And they want more connections with their friends that aren’t digital, that are tangible. They’re starting to question the authenticity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
“They want technology to assist rather than dominate the way they communicate.”
Read full article here
