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.
Lack of Physical Proximity Contact – When the human experience becomes inhumane
Since the dawn of evolution encounters between humans were made in the physical realm. Over millennia we have adapted skills in reading our fellow inhabitants. Until the advent of writing and the slow march of its mass implementation, physical proximity contact was the only means of measuring up and communicating with others. The term “body language” comes from an innate ability to read signs and subtleties in another’s physical stance and movement. Facial expressions, sweaty palms a tendency to avoid eye contact give us clues as to the possibility of hidden intent. These skills have become crucial in many aspects of human life, from starting or avoiding wars to success in business. The absence of a physical forum to exercise these instincts will inevitably lead to isolationism amongst similar minded idealist, further widening the rift that may swallow us all.
The problem associated with the growing lack of physical proximity contact is the gradual dehumanization of other humans. The growing basis for modern human interaction comes in the form of text and pictures. These interludes that interrupt our real lives normally include muses or a sharing of delights in one’s life. But, all too often they are spews from a platform of self righteousness and self promotion. In this virtual vacuum where accountability is lost in the ether, tough talk and vile rhetoric are easily regurgitated without the fear of physical retribution. This perpetual diatribe continues to feed the anger and disrepute of all participants, creating a perfect storm for division.
The simplest of messages can be utterly misconstrued in the non physical medium. In the absence of inflection and tone, misinterpretation becomes the norm. This can have a profound affect on our prolonged interactive attitudes. As we began to blend with our devices, we no longer view our fellow communicants as humans. In doing so we began to degrade as well, slipping down into the mire with all those who would dare disagree with us. This desensitization to human regard coupled with a lack of self and mutual respect is exacerbated when we no longer have to face physical proximity contact. We relegate our existence in the virtual safety of our virtual world devoid of all things that make us Human Being.
Mostly agree, but I have also noticed a lack of respecting physical space.
In the last few years people tend to pay more attention to their device than what is going on around them, to include others standing in front of them. A person with a roller bag at the airport, reading/texting on his phone, kept cutting in front of others without any respect for their travel. He ran over my feet and also those of several others. A middle aged woman (are we allowed to say that any more?) kicked his roller bag and proceeded to dress him down. He did not even look at her. So much for respect and common courtesy.
Me too.. nothing is worse than having your ears raped for hours by someone with nothing to say and then have them repeat it. Over and over. Remember “how,who, what,where,when,why goodbye”
It’s a B.S. way to communicate…if you don’t have enough decency to do it face to face, you’re a coward……what ever happened to handshakes as well?….both a sign of respect to people…..Have we lost our respect for others? I think we have…we need it back…For those people that still do both to people…Thank you!
Think what this means as far as their communications abilities and social skills.
well, duh … it’s a whole lot easier!
I’m sure the fact the study was done by a live chat provider(LivePerson) that makes big money off people using text communication didn’t have any effect whatsoever on methodology, sampling, or results.
Le’s face it, it is easier to make a remark that “offends someone”, or is deemed to be “insensitive’, or “hate speech” by talking. Easier to edit your comment in writing, although most do not which memorializes it.
How often do you see families out at dinner with their heads down. Or the toddler with the phone to keep him or her quiet and pacified. “I took my family out so we could all spend some quality time with our phones”.
Sad, and they wonder why they fail!
I am always amazed when we go out to an upscale restaurant and look around; everyone is on there cell phones texting, emailing or whatever…..no one talks to each other. We all laugh (cell phones not allowed at our table), and at the same time, shake our heads in disbelief! It is a sad commentary on the state of humanity!
True that. This will be a long term problem in business when these people wet themselves because they cant do any thing that feels like negotiation or needing to win others over.
In sales (and we are all in sales) communication is essential and creating a bond with the client! You cannot do that with a cell phone and texting!
I think this is why half of our nation is wetting their pants because Trump is actually *gasp* negotiating with North Korea. Words are scary!!
Trump is a millennial?
The 21st Century’s most overused oxymoron: Social Media
Because if millennials communicate in person people can see how f..king stupid they is…
Mils have no social intelligence so of course they are going to want to communicate electronically. Instead of showing they care, they can slap an emoji at the end of a sentence. That is the problem. They are coming out into the workforce, but have no idea how to deal with people. They don’t know how to compromise and see someone else’s side of things.
I have a question. Let’s see if anybody can answer. What is the next generation called? The ones in grammar school now. They aren’t millennial so what is their name?
Well it quiets up us Italians or Greeks. Can’t figure how you talk with your hands and type at the same time.
Of course, they prefer texting, where illiteracy is affirmed in 140 characters or less.
…most of these cretins can’t put together a grammatically correct sentence.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/american-millennials-are-among-the-worlds-least-skilled/
“We really thought [U.S.] Millennials would do better than the general adult population, either compared to older coworkers in the U.S. or to the same age group in other countries,” says Madeline Goodman, an ETS researcher who worked on the study. “But they didn’t. In fact, their scores were abysmal.”
Well, I’m certainly not young, but yes, when it comes to talking to any kind of clerk or bureaucracy, I prefer speaking in emails. It cuts down on the all the small talk and leaves a written transcript. I think it’s more efficient and foolproof.