… as if you didn’t know that already, you smart PSFK readers, you. Erm, anyway, British regulatory group Ofcom have conducted a survey saying that kids are leaving TV to hang out in these new fangled web communities, the BBC reports:
Sixteen to 24 year olds, [Ofcom] reports, spend nearly three hours on the net each week. Seventy percent (compared to 41% of the general population) have used some kind of social networking site, such as My Space, and one in five have their own website or blog. Half of the group owns a games console and/or an MP3 player.
Ofcom’s research suggests this online lifestyle may have contributed to a fall in television viewing – this age group watch seven hours less television per week than the average viewer… The reduced consumption of other media, such as newspapers, magazines and radio, amongst this age-group compared to the general population, has also thought to have been driven by the net.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: “The speed at which consumption habits for this age group is changing is faster than other groups… This generation has grown up with new technologies – and it is this generation for whom the uptake is instinctive.”
Reminds us of something Josh Spear said to us the other day: “Guys, I’m a native in this space, you’ve got a visa to be here, and all those guys who want to make money here – like the ad agencies – are still at the travel agents booking their tickets for a vacation here.” Cocky git. Probably right, though.
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Fascinating post.
Combined with the new data showing that americans have fewer friends, this certainly paints a bleak future! Two things:
1. Toffler’s “Future Shock”
Written in the 70s about the exponential march of technology. This josh spear being the poster child of today’s recent shift, perhaps he can also be the canary for the generation: how soon will his brain turn to mush from this overexposure of information? Bleak, I know!
2. Also reminds me of this sci-fi short story from the early 20th about a future where everyone lives in tiny compartments attached to a computer screen–CS Lewis maybe? The ‘no friends theory’ combined with all of these screens that are fastly replacing good old-fashioned human interaction makes it seem this forecast was right on the money. [wish i remember this author's name--it's killing me!]
August 11th, 2006 at 12:19 am
Come on Piers, I didn’t say anything like that :) Were you recording our phone conferences again?
August 11th, 2006 at 11:03 am