The Truth about Youth: Tech, Connections and Justice

GLOBAL – JUNE 1, 2011 – McCann Worldgroup has released the findings of ‘The Truth about Youth’, a global study of 16-30 year olds which involved qualitative and quantitative research conducted across the globe. The research examines the motivations of young people and seeks to uncover what makes them both similar and different from previous generations.

 

 

A surprising finding for Singaporean youth was the fact that they are increasingly turning away from material possessions such as the five C’s of cash, car, condo, CPF & country club and turning towards a new ‘c’ of ‘commune’. The McCann Worldgroup research describes commune as being the process of focusing on the need for connection, relationships and community, something Singaporean youth did much more so than other markets such as India, where young people were more focused on ‘membership’ or  the need to be in the know, an insider or part of  the crowd. 

 

This new focus on commune was paired with the rise of a ‘Social Economy’, a scenario where a young person’s ability to connect defines them. In other words, narrating one’s life has become a full time occupation.

 

Dave McCaughan, Director of Strategic Planning in Asia Pacific explained, “What is truly interesting about this research is that although we see great diversity in Asia the use of intensified use of mobile technologies as the primary means of communication, investigation and linkage in young people’s lives means that they are developing multiple communities that they belong to simultaneously. That and a desire to achieve more in their lives, driven by continual growth in opportunities acts as a common bond in behavior.”

 

As a final proof point of Singaporean youth’s increasingly laid back approach to life, the research also found that despite, or perhaps even because, of the pressure to perform well academically, Singaporean youths were no longer attracted to the concept of winning at all costs, or ‘kaisu’ as it is more commonly known in Singapore. Instead, the youths stressed the need to look at the bigger picture, to focus more on happiness and less on winning. In essence there was a sense of Singapore youth wishing to be ‘lovers, not fighters’.

 

Laura Simpson, Global IQ Director for McCann Worldgroup, said of the study, “What we saw across the board is that technology is the great global unifier.  It is the glue that binds this generation together and fuels the motivations that define them.”  She continued, “Young people utilize technology as a kind of supersense which connects them to infinite knowledge, friends and entertainment opportunities.”

 

Further to the Singapore findings, global truths included the following; 

 

1. TECH AS FIFTH SENSE

While technology has often been referred to in jest as an appendage of today’s youth, over half (53%) of 16-22 year olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than give up their technology.  For this generation, technology is not an add-on.  It is a tool that enables them to sense the world and make sense of the world.

 

2. SOCIAL ECONOMY OVER EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

In the Material Economy people defined themselves primarily via what they owned.  In the Experience Economy people became more focused on what they’d seen or done (supposedly valuing memories as much as material possessions). McCann Worldgroup’s research found that for young people today it’s increasingly all about the Social Economy; who you connect with and what you share. As one respondent put it “if there are no pics, it didn’t happen.”  

 

Whereas past generations focused on maintaining a small group of friends, relationships between youth today are much more complex. Using social media, a typical teenager is likely to manage and maintain multiple, intersecting groups of friends. This is the “strategic generation” who effortlessly manages different identities, evaluates the usefulness of specific connections and occasionally strips back those who no longer make the grade. McCann Worldgroup found that 47% of the youth globally want to be remembered for their connections.

 

3. HUNTING FOR TRUTH

Asked which values they seek in a best friend, young people globally opted for ‘truthful’, chosen by 42% and rated nearly twice as important as the next most important value (‘genuine’, chosen by 22%).  “Truthful” is also the top word young people apply to themselves – with 21% globally choosing this as a personal descriptor. Truth is currency in the social economy.  The democratic nature of the internet invites information, opinion and rumor in equal measure.   The laws of supply and demand apply. The rarity of truth increases its value.

 

4. JUSTICE RE-IMAGINED

Justice is the second most important motivator for young people (rated as ‘very important’ by 52% of young people globally). And the thing that young people are most likely to say that they are ‘good at’ globally is ‘knowing right from wrong’ (44%).  A large percentage of youth say that the thing they most want to be remembered for is changing the world in a positive way.

 

Young people around the world are very aware of how social media tools can be and are being harnessed in the quest for social justice. They are using these very tools to re-imagine how justice works and how they can take action.

 

Perhaps not so surprising is that a sense of “order” is less motivating to a generation that has grown up in such a rapidly changing environment where access to so much influence and alternatives is both easy and happening in parallel all the time.