Study examines Italian Millennials' technology use
(by Laura Giannoni).
- Rome - The Italian Millennial generation has 11.2 members ranging in age from 18 to 34 - digital natives who spend their time online using social networks, chatting, and posting photos with their ever-larger smartphones. A recent survey by Nielsen for Yahoo revealed key characteristics of this group, which has adapted to communicating in an audiovisual language and is less interested than earlier generations in passive TV viewing.
According to the study, 8.3 million Millennials in Italy are online, representing 74% of the total population for their generational group.
That's higher than the 58% for those between the ages of 18-74 who are online, but still identifies nearly three million young people who are offline either for lack of access or by choice.
On an average day, 7.2 Millennials are online and connected for an average of two and a half hours a day.
More than half of them go online exclusively with their smartphone, which is the preferred method above all for those aged 18-24.
They clearly use their smartphones for things other than talking.
Of the three hours a day on average that a Millennial has a smartphone in hand, the study said only 22 minutes are used for phone calls and SMS text messages. More than an hour a day is spent on social network platforms and online chatting, 19 minutes on surfing the web, and 11 minutes on games.
Smartphones and computers are complimentary devices, in that they're both used for the same activities, although 78% of the Millennials' time online is accessed from a mobile phone.
The study said the top three online activities for 18-34 year olds are email, web searches and social networking, followed by general websites, news websites, and videos.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Internet and TV is more complex.
At nearly four hours a day, this generation dedicates more time overall to TV than to Internet; still, the general trend of TV viewing is falling 8% annually, and TV viewing isn't an activity done exclusively.
Two out of three Millennials, according to the study, have the TV on while they're simultaneously using a keyboard on a computer, smartphone or tablet.
The survey said that 83% of this group watches TV content from the Internet rather than from a traditional television.
In fact, when asked which item they'd rather have on a desert island - TV or Internet - this group had no doubts about throwing away the TV in order to go online instead.
The study said respondents reported that traditional television programs aren't flexible enough to completely satisfy when it comes to what they're passionate about or the interests they pursue.
But this is traditional television, while the audiovisually-adapted Millennial now goes online for streaming and on-demand content even in Italy, where in mid-October Netflix will try to disrupt the industry.
Apple TV is also waiting in the wings, and promises to offer Millennials a TV experience with a way to interact that they're more accustomed to. Through the use of apps, which have already taken over smartphones, tablets and computers, Apple TV is set to revolutionise the "queen of the livingroom" as well.
