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.
As an employer, this is a maddening trend. I have to teach my young staff how to use a phone to make a business call. They want to email for everything, and when their emails are not returned they give up saying “The person didn’t answer me.” They are literally afraid of making a phone call! I must say “Pick up the phone and call them” 5 times a day. And they usually respond “But I emailed them.” I’ll ask how far that got them and they look at me blankly. It’s a pity.
I am an old guy. I cannot understand younger folk who talk much too fast over the phone. I prefer email. The younger have not developed a manner to be understood over a phone call. They have not learned to prepare for a business phone call by preparing talking points. and then take notes. These younger folk have not learned those things that make real time conversation work, and probably should be taught how to be more analog in their manner.
Thus my struggle. They have no idea how to make a call! A simple phone call to get a yes/no answer doesn’t warrant the time an email takes to compose. Not that their writing skills are that good either.
This, I agree this is an issue, but have you ever done adult education? These people are there to “improve” themselves and their chances in life, but more attention is paid to the cell than to the task at had.
I am a retired industrial manufacturing manager (with a a degree), using my time to help people improve themselves. Guess what I do not do anymore?
So, how much money (in time and lost output) do you give up in this babysitting adventure? Bet it’s more than one might think.
Might be time to consider hiring only older workers. And if you are in California, you will have to start paying these adult children 3 months paid maternity leave whenever they squirt out a baby. Think of the headaches you’ll spare yourself by NOT hiring these snowflakes!
Sure they text. There are lots of reasons to text. But there are questions why they prefer texting. Can they remember what they said? Can they understand conversation over a phone with their hearing damage from too loud music? Can they actually speak clearly and coherently in extemporaneous expression?
What comes after Z….
Exactly… Humanity stops here..
What do you think Hollywood’s been trying to tell us for the last 20 years??
Its over for us…
What was the name of that Bruce Willis movie oh ya “Surrogates” was pretty good.this is what we are leading up to..never leave the house or your easy chair…..
Nothing new. People have been communicating digitally for thousands of years,,, I see it all the time when driving…
I am hoping you are not gen Xers complaining because you are the ones that brought them to this earth.
And the final solution is to hire digital robots to do the work of the increasingly socially inept I see every time I go into a fast food place. I’d rather deal with a robot than some snotty nosed pukes that think I owe them something just for breathing.
Communicating digitally? OK… here’s the one-finger salute.
Sad commentary on Gen Z. It’s hard to carry on a conversation with them face to face and the phones not a continual distraction. It really is a type of disability.
Remember that modern education has been molded by former terrorist Bill Ayres and other leftists. The youth are being groomed to be hypnotized drones, another step toward slavery.