NEW YORK — If the emoji movie wasn’t symbolic enough of today’s youth, perhaps this will rattle your foundation: A new survey finds that 7 in 10 millennials and the younger Gen Z prefer to communicate digitally — mostly by text message — than in person.
Researchers at LivePerson, a business solutions provider, polled more than 4,000 young adults under between age 18 and 34 in a handful of Western nations, helping them discover the priorities and preferences of today’s millennials and Gen Z.
Globally, 65 percent of those surveyed indicated they talk to peers more frequently via texting or a mobile, but that number is even higher in English-speaking nations. In both the United States and in the United Kingdom, about 74 percent of millennials and Gen Z communicate digitally more frequently with others.
As for the tool of choice for digital correspondence, about 73 percent of Americans and 74 percent of those in the UK prefer text messages. That number dipped to about 69 percent globally.
The survey also discovered another odd quirk of today’s young adults: about 62 percent would rather forget their wallet at home than their phone when going out.
Seventy percent of the participants said that they slept within arm’s length of their phone, and a hair more than half said they’d check their phone for any notifications should they wake up in the middle of the night.
When it comes to bathroom breaks, nearly 66 percent brought their device with them to the toilet, which highlights the ubiquity of connectivity.
Large minorities believed it was fine to use their phone in contexts that would likely be considered improper by elders, such as at the dining table (42 percent) or in the middle of a conversation (28 percent).
Nearly 70 percent of the group surveyed said they could see a future in which all purchases are made online, and most young consumers prioritized using technology when they needed assistance with a product or service.
“We wanted to look more closely at the younger consumer audience, across different countries, and in more depth than the well-known trope that young people love their smartphones,” says Rurik Bradbury, LivePerson’s global head of communications and research, of the study’s origins, in a press release. “What we see in the research data is the phone truly becoming an extension of the self, and the platforms and apps within it— digital life— occupying more than their offline interactions.”
The poll reached millennials and Gen Z members across six countries— the U.S., the UK, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan — in mid-September.
Administered by independent research firm Survata, participants received no compensation for their input.
This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a text message.
“# Wimper”?
And that’s the ball game folks…
This is a disaster. Social skills are extremely important in life.
Been going on for 10 years. Have you been to a school to pick up your kid from Kindergarten? No other parents want to talk, to busy tapping and swiping. Been on a city bus, stood in a line anywhere, or even noticed the people around you? They are all droned out. Watching America slowly drone out and tap/swipe their way into a mental fog is quite sad actually. It’s almost like they are unwittingly admitting themselves to the Matrix and don’t even realize it. Yikes.
Hold your ground youre not alone were with you. Dont tolerate it.
I have even caught myself doing this occasionally and I am 48 – certainly not a millennial. I take Lyft and Uber a lot and start to mess with my phone the moment I get in so that I don’t have to make small talk. I know it is wrong. When I catch myself doing it, I go out of my way to initiate conversation.
And people wonder why depression is on the rise?
Just as it was planned…
They dont call it the NET and the WEB for nothing….
It’s all a program for global human enslavement and were marching right on into it…
The MATRIX wasn’t a mere “movie”…it was a prophecy
The brainwashing with handheld devices is much more effective than television.
Indeed…
Too many younger adults have failed to grow up and still have juvenal conduct problems.
Social skills? They can’t even look you in the eye.
They are taught in gov. schools ( indoctrination centers ) looking someone in the eye is a ACT OF WAR
Luckily, my parents did not rely on the public education for teaching me everything. Too bad many parents did not do the same.
Not everyone is a cell phone zombie. I’m still a person.
Enjoy unemployment.
It’ll be OK. “The Government will save us.” RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!
That’s quite a generation, no?
Sure they do. Digitally you can be everything you’re not in real life.
Wow, I never even saw that side of it, and your comment makes a lot of sense.
Until the person’s intelligence is shown through written dialog.
not often recognized as the two exchanging texts have similar level of incompetence
So true.
Reminds me of the song “So much cooler on line” by Brad Paisley.
If you haven’t heard it, check it out. Pretty funny and so, so true.
We’ve lost this generation completely. Perhaps it will be our last.
One can only hope…
This generation was “lost” when their parents decided it was “someone else” job to raise them and not teach them personal accountability and critical thinking. It’s a shame the offspring of The Greatest Generation did such a poor job of raising their own children.
It wasn’t the boomers it was their offspring actually.
jfc, don’t you have some more 3rd world nations to plunder, boomer internet defense force?
When women chose employment over ‘stay at home mom’, dual incomes spiked the price of everything. Now most couple must have both incomes just to get by. No one left to raise the kids. This has been a disastrous wound to both the Family Unit and the Social Fabric. Is there really any wonder there are so many social problems?
BTW, I’m not intentionally blaming or disparaging anyone for wanting a career or a life ‘bigger than the house’.
What I am alluding to is not enough time and priority seems to be given to raising the next generation. Not in all cases, of course, but collectively.
I think you are a bit off your generations. My parents where of the Greatest generation, I’m a boomer, my children are not Zs !
I have 3 children. One is a Dr. of emergency medician, one is an engineer (masters degree) for NASA, and one has a degree in physics working for UK.
My wife has a doctors degree in astronomy (retired) and I am a retired manufacturing manager (engineer, retired).
My grand children are not be helpless.
That is family planning.
My 7 year old nephew visited last week. He was beyond addicted to the screen. Once his Ipad was dead he was screaming (literally) for someone’s phone to tide him over until his Ipad recharged. He ate with his Ipad. He couldn’t dress himself because my lousy sister-in-law would dress him so he wouldn’t become upset by having to put his Ipad down. I really don’t think he knew where he was most of the time. I will no longer waste my money buying him toys because he obviously doesn’t use them.
How young IS this kid? Mommy needs to hide his iPad!
This is not good. We’re about to see things in this world that most could have never imagined.
This is due to the entire last generation of hyper sensitive pussies. They like to be tough behind a keyboard and a screen name…. Like I am doing right now 😉
Also some of these freaks when agitated instead of saying do you want to fight they now say “do you want to dance? Its amazing these weirdos are everywhere,law enforcement you name it. Thats why things are getting worse in the usa every year.
why do these preferences bother old people so much?
“Old people”? Nice. That might be your problem right there. Not very respectful, are you?
“Most of the people you encounter in those age groups have no social skills whatsoever.”
I’d rather be in an age group with no social skills than the one that sold out the American empire just to guarantee a better quality of life than their parents AND their children. Respect my ass.
You are an idiot.
nice “step forward” in communication, brainlet.
And ya prove it. LMAO!!!
You are brave on a device. I wonder how you would be toe to toe, face to face. That is the point of the article.
You seem to be enjoying all that (whatever) was sold out for. You are responsible for you ,stop blaming others for your colossal failure in life
Earning respect is not something leaders (i.e., politicians, CEOs, etc.) care about. I keep hearing how older folks sold younger ones down the river. The truth is that globalism has been a practice for decades in the United States. Industries are happy to take manufacturing and send to China. My company made plans back in the 70s, and most of the assembly line workers were gone by the mid 90s. Even when we vote against candidates who initiate these ruinous policies, it does not change. If voting really changed anything, they would abolish it.
The only problem i have with your post is that older generations refuse to take responsibility for this “globalism” that has just mystically “been in practice for decades.” (while simultaneously trying to shame all young people for their lack of “responsibility” and “texting too much.”) These nameless, faceless “industries” that you blame are comprised of PEOPLE. Why were you/they all so asleep at the wheel? “Voting doesn’t change anything?” Ever heard the quote “those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable”?
Many folks have been beaten down for just fighting the system. What exactly do you advocate should occur if the company you work for is sending job to China? The union shops went on strike, others tried legal methods; nothing kept this giant boulder from rolling us down. The corporations will always have more lawyers. I lived through it. Why were we asleep? We knew what was happening and tried to warn or change things but inevitably you become inured and need to take care you don’t end up in harm’s way. I don’t know how old you are, but we had very little recourse in way of publicizing or communicating what we could see was the outcome of business policies.
I do agree that perhaps there will be a breaking point soon. Have you read 2030 by Albert Brooks? It’s very interesting; about how the young will revolt against the privileged old. I can see something like a new French Revolution erupting, followed by breakdown in society I hope not, but everything is becoming very abnormal.
The stock market has risen so high on borrowed money and quantitative easing policies. There should have been a crash before now. Maybe that will be the catalyst.
You in particular might have been awake, but enough people weren’t that the wool got pulled over their eyes. This idea that it’s hopeless and that things are “good enough” so just “go along to get along” is at the crux of the issue. I notice that attitude in my parents. “Don’t make waves.”
To that I say, “the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men stand by and do nothing.” That’s what it seems to me has happened.
Maybe it was an uphill battle against vast armies of lawyers, but a lot of people decided they’d rather live on their knees than die on their feet. Their prerogative, but seems mighty cowardly.
I haven’t read the book, looking into it now. I see the same, especially with the recent attacks by Trump on the bread and circuses (NFL and Weinstein). You’re spot on about the market as well… ultimately the FED has ruined us. How it will play out is anyone’s guess, but it is gonna hurt.
Good luck to you, young ‘un! I hope you can see change that was not forthcoming in my lifetime. The legal, political, and law enforcement cabal does take a toll on anyone.
Thanks, and you as well! We’re gonna need all the luck, prayers, incantations, and charms we can find to right this ship.
You have none either.
They can believe as they wish, and will reap the results, just as every generation has.
Another one who was complicit in the downfall of the greatest empire of self governance in history, taking potshots about arbitrarily defined “social skills.” Sad!
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Most of the people you encounter in those age groups have no social skills whatsoever.
Teach your kids social skills and they will rule this generation, very simple. Very sad indeed.
Take their phones away from them
Or make them get jobs in the service industry!
Then all they have to do is communicate by email.
The problem is that when all you can do is communicate in this manner, by text or twitter, you do not need to develop social skills and the ability to communicate with people face to face.
If they are waiting tables they don’t have a choice but to communicate and it dictates how much they make, same in retail.
There is not a lot of communications with a waiter.
Could these people (who live by the “device”) survive in a world of the sixties, when you used pay phones and mail?
Oh, Poop, I just did it!
Yes they could as they would not have been raised with cell phones.
Really, I do not think they could if the cell towers went down and the internet was turned off. Most would not know what to do. They would have to get out and “actually like” talk to people.
You asked, “Could these people (who live by the “device”) survive in a world of the sixties, when you used pay phones and mail? ”
My reply is that, yes they could as they would not have been raised with the cell phone.
This issue is more the way they were raised, parents who want to be “friends’ and not parents and with cell phones so that they are connected 24/7.
These people do not know how to talk to people.
Sir, you miss the point. Which is, if they could not use their devices, now, could they survive in a social ( face to face) atmosphere of the 1960s or earlier?
I think not, you think they could. We will see what happens should the grid go down (for whatever reason).
I will survive, can you, can they?
Eventually yes.
Now, no as they have never developed their social skills.
This is also why I think the younger people have issues with manners and allowing anyone to speak their mind.
Please define what you mean by eventually. Right now we need people who live in reality. People need to operate in both the real world and in the web world. Operating only in the web world is a set up for failure. Operating without the web is living in a cave of 5000 years ago and therefore failure. There is a need for balance.
This needs to be taught at home and reinforced in the educational process. Currently neither happens, and this will be OUR failure.
at an unspecified later time
No, that’s because they have been pumped full of “You’re The Best”, ” You’re Special”, participation trophies (You’re not better than me) and especially parents that run interference for them in every situation and never believe their kid could be wrong (as they stand behind their mom or dad and flip you off). Colleges and universities are reporting big increases in parents calling administrators and teachers/professors to intercede for their kids like they are lawyers on retainer…
Now you are talking bout the stupid parents being unable to deal with raising a child to the point they are afraid to “injure” their fragile little phyche, so you end up with people who are not capable of dealing with the real world.
Would you want to pay them for their time? Remember, as an employer, you need to make a profit to survive. How profitable will these digital zombies be when their only world experiences will be in the virtual one?
Making ‘eye contact’ will brand you as an ‘alpha’ or ‘psycho’, no doubt.
That’s because, like, they don’t really, like, know *how* to, like, speak. Like you know, like, what I, like, mean?
Exactly. Poor educators and model citizens. It’s a shame their parents did not teach accountability and critical thinking. But I guess it was deemed “someone else job” by that generation.
Naturally. And 50 years ago, hippies were a model of clear thinking and articulation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d4P8xdrmvQ
Then they became todays College Professors — WE ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SCREWED
Omg I was fishing at the lake last year and 3 girls were paddle boarding and using like 30 freaking times in 2 minutes and in 2 sentences. It took all of my will not to go out and beat them to death with their stupid paddles!????!
I enjoy watching the older generations make fun of Millennials. Example: “They received participation trophies”.. HA.. yeah, because it was their idea, not the generation of parents who coddled them.
Not my idea or the idea of anyone I know. I’m not old!
…..and because of this they can’t handle a direct conversation. A pointed & mildly heated exchange drives them to the “puppy room”. A vigorous Debate on important issues ?? Forget it. That will not happen. No way they can deal with that. Sad.
They better learn to deal with people face to face in a respectful way. It may get emotional, but never violent. Debate facts, not opinions. Speak calmly. And if necessary, agree to disagree & move on.
Compromise is not a dirty work. It’s the answer.
This is spelling the end of the Financial Advising industry as we speak. Just as tellers are a dying breed so will be guys in suits sitting behind desks “trading”. I’m leaving the business because all the people over 70 and have the money love talking on the phone. All the people under 60 with no money only want email and text. No thanks, I’ll move on. Sad actually. Thankfully, I made mine, paid off debts, and will watch from the sidelines.
Yes we know, it’s because they are stupid. Text messaging is a step backwards in the evolution of communications.
True. We’ve come so far. First it took days to send a letter via mail. Then we could call on the phone. Then, we take the phone with us as we travel. We even invented the George Jetsons version of teleconferencing via Skype and people are like no thanks…let’s type words out on a small device. WTF?
Honestly, the droned out behavior of people with text and social media is a microcosm of the bigger picture problems.
Good point! We have the most advanced forms of communication ever conceived, but let’s tap our words out one. letter. at. a. time. instead. smiley. face. emoji. here.
Kinda back to using Morse Code.
This is due to many factors. Inability to speak correctly,social retardation,just plain stupid and emotional problems only god understands as some of these people also are illegal and hide to commit fraud. They are so dumbed down and emotionally paranoid and have such low self esteem they are hiding from themselves.
Teachers during the obama admin. have destroyed these people and they have no sense of confidence nor the actual ability to carry on a conversation or express their opinion.
Totally sickening and if somebody cant speak to me and only wants to text then I have no interest in dealing with them.
Again fraudsters are using this big time so be careful.
There is very good reason that the millennials are referred to as “the dumbest generation.” They prove it every single day.
Millennials are as useless as T1Ts on a Duck 🦆
They had great mentors who taught them how to not become personally accountable!
Hair bag hippie parents
GOV. SCHOOLS
XBox, Hot Pockets, Superbad, Pro-Activ…….Check !