How digitally aware are the different generations
Hi
I’m Zarqa, a millennial, working as a digital analyst at NSPCC.
Are you a baby boomer, millennial, generation X or the silent generation?
Millennials (1981–1996)
A Famous video by Simon Sinek , which I recently watched where one of the points the host spoke about was how millennial were told they were special and could have anything they wanted in life. This video was about how millennial behave in a workplace, there is some truth to some of his statements but I do believe it’s down to if you’re from the early years of the millennial generations or the upper range, we are apparently very much a taker generation.
How digitally savvy are we?
I was roughly in my late teen’s when I became aware of the internet. Especially when someone was on the phone and you’d hear the beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeppppppppp of the famous dial up trying to connect with the accompanied shout out of “GET OFF THE PHONE MUM”. Thankfully this was replaced by broadband in the early 2001, where we could view pages in lightning speed comparatively. Due to the speed of the internet we as a generation have become impatient from queuing to ordering food.
It was still embarrassing in those years to say you’ve met someone online as it wasn’t deemed normal even though everyone did it. You’d hear the different variations of how you met being repeated. ‘In the library, at a day timer, hanging with my friends, on the bus… etc there has been a shift in how people date that to meet someone in a physical sense is shocking.
Generation millennial have been brought up with all digital matters, from social media to smart phones we were the guinea pig to how successful it would be. I would believe we are the most digitally savvy users of all generations as we also know how it was to live without digital. We could cope with a digital black out by getting the inner scouts/girl guide to lead.
Generation X (1956–1980)
This is the generation whom grow up with two income families and rising divorce rates. They are known to be independent, resourceful and self sufficient. More likely lovers of Michael Jackson, The Fresh Prince and Friends. There known as the latchkey generation which is defined as a child who is often left at home with little parental supervision, because their parent or parents are away at work.
45% are more likely to browse the internet and then purchase the item in store. 23% of Generation X say social media affects how people see you and 14% think its approporate to talk, tect and surf the web during work hours.
A recent study stated that digital savviness also decreased with age, highlighting a generational digital skills gap. It found that whilst 64% of millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are digitally savvy, only 46% of Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) are. This then drops to 34% for Gen Z (born 1997 onwards), 23% of baby boomers (born between 1946 to 1964) and 15% of the pre-war generation (born 1945 and earlier).
Baby Boomers (1946–1964)
Millennial basically blame them for taking all the properties and leaving them a renting generation.. but apart from that they are also known as the bank of parents. They have been fortunate in terms of wealth however digitally they are the slowest to change. When buying a laptop there more likely to keep the standard setup, so usually use the browser pre installed (Internet Explorer). Depending on their employment status and profession there less likely to be surfing the net to purchase items. According to Forbes social media matters for baby boomers, there more likely to have a LinkedIn page or a Facebook profile. What are they likely doing? Sharing content online, from their families to watching videos. According to the Google research, 54% of boomers and seniors watch videos online, with entertainment and utility as their main reasons. YouTube is their preferred video platform 82% with Facebook trailing behind at 43%.
My parents are baby boomers but fall into opposite spectrum's of digital awareness
My father is very digitally savvy, he has himself a smart phone knows how to use most apps and can navigate himself very well around the internet whereas my father in law is happy with his hard as nails brick phone which he prides himself with how impressive its battery life is and no matter how you threw the phone it doesn’t seem to break. He once asked me to message him work colleague and after a few blisters on my fingers typing I opted to using my phone to message him and then forward it on to his colleague..
How can we bridge the gap between the different generations and make them more digitally savvy. This is certainly a question which needs to be further explored.
Currently there are a lot of organisations which are trying to help but I still believe there is a long way till we get everyone thinking digital first.
https://www.barclays.co.uk/digital-confidence/eagles/
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