The twenty-first century teen and the disruptive world of new media

Twenty-first Century Teen

Can it be true that teens are not into Twitter?

According to a teenager, it’s true. Teens may be consuming more media than ever, but they are doing it in different ways and some of those ways might surprise you. My colleague Allen Gelberg and I found a fascinating article on the media habits of teenagers and got together to write a blog on our thoughts about the new media universe.

A recent research report written by a 15-year-old Morgan Stanley intern in the UK has been causing a stir. Matthew Robson (who is almost sixteen years old) wrote a report on teenagers’ likes and dislikes when it comes to media. Though he didn’t claim any statistical accuracy, his clear insights created buzz in the media community with his report generating five or six times more response than other Morgan Stanley reports.

What is not a surprise in Matthew’s report?: That teenagers are using more and more media but are not willing to pay for it which seems reasonable given that they probably don’t have lots of money. Also rather common sense was his assertion that traditional media like TV, radio and magazines are quickly losing ground with teenagers. Similarly, almost all teenagers don’t pay for music and most have never purchased a CD in their life.

But some of Matthew’s other comments are insightful. We might think of teens as embracing all the new media without question, but they have their clear preferences: they love Facebook but while they may sign up for Twitter, most don’t use it (there are web-browsing costs to Tweet, so why not text your friends instead and ensure that your message has a receiver on the other end?). They are put off by advertising online and on television and either ignore it completely or channel surf while the ads are on (making these ads essentially useless in reaching this audience).

Here are some of the other media habits of teenagers that Matthew noted:

• Instead of radio, teens listen to online sites streaming music for free where they can choose the songs they want and avoid advertisements and the chatter of radio DJs.
• TV is being watched less and less due to time constraints, dislike of advertising and the ability to watch shows online on demand.
• Teens don’t pick up newspapers and instead get their news in a shorter form online or on TV. When they do read a newspaper, it’s a tabloid or a freesheet (like Metro) whose smaller format makes it easier to read on the bus or subway.
• Girls are gaming too and gaming is ever more popular especially online where you can chat with your friends (though PC gaming is becoming less popular).
• Mobile phones are a teen necessity and they usually have pay-as-you-go mid-range phones and primarily use them for calling and texting (other features like internet and video calling are rarely used as they are deemed too expensive).

The conclusion? That teens love media, but they especially love it when it’s free and ad-free.

Keri’s Thoughts: All this makes me feel awfully old. As a child in rural Alberta in the early 1980s, we still had a party telephone line shared between three families, three channels on TV and the Atari our neighbours had was incredibly exciting (Frogger anyone?). Actually, since my parents disagreed with “new-fangled” video games, they quelled our Atari envy by getting us a trampoline instead (which caused untold injuries but no repetitive stress thumb injuries).  I also spent too many hours fast-forwarding through the terrible songs in my tape collection.

Nowadays, mobile phones are so ubiquitous that there are competitions all around the world for teens to see who can text the fastest. It seems that the world that teenagers (and we all) inhabit has changed faster in the last twenty years than for any other generation.

Allen Gelberg

Allen’s Thoughts: If my colleague feels old, then I must be ancient. The new media universe that we all live in is one of embracing change, listening, watching and willing to dare, safely, audaciously… like these companies:

• UK Banks have been offering weekly/monthly bank account updates via text for over a year.
• In India: Barclays Bank cardholders can operate their accounts via SMS.
• Telecom providers are now offering text/SMS-only packages. In Canada, Fido offers unlimited text messaging with the $25/month plan. [Editor's note: I'm sure you can find similar packages from other Telco's.]
• GraphiMail is one company that offers text/SMS advertising & marketing campaigns.
• Kate Moore is an Iowa teen who is the fastest SMS texter. She averages 14,000 text messages per month!

By the way, Allen’s contribution was sent to Keri via SMS.

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Tags: digital media, mobile, teens, telecommunications