Millennials: Truths, Lies, and What They’re *Really* Doing on Their Smartphones
(Spoiler Alert: It’s Not What You Think)
In the past year, Millennials and teens have been accused of killing the Olympics, breakfast cereal, the workplace, cars, credit cards, McDonald’s, Home Depot, manners, class, golf, all of retailing, running, and paper napkins. (These are all real examples!)
Beyond their kombucha-fueled rampage through countless industries, young people are consistently called lazy, self-centered, narcissistic, and entitled. (Now this is a great Google hole to fall into.) They’re also maligned for their use of technology, mostly by older generations that have no idea how to use said technology.
Taken at headline value, Millennials (and the teens coming of age behind them) are the most problematic generation in modern history.
But this narrative could not be more wrong.
DoSomething Strategic conducted its 2016 Survey of Young People and Civic Participation and found that America’s young people are highly engaged in their communities and the world at large. They volunteer at high rates and use technology to not only connect with peers but also as effective tools to improve their communities. Plus, they view their generation as central to fixing the problems they inherited. And all this while being the healthiest and most responsible generation yet. Wow.
Precisely why young people differ from earlier generations is really rooted in what they consider to be the essential truths of their own generation. They believe:
- The old guard doesn’t care much for young people.
- Technology—smartly leveraged — can effectively turn longstanding power structures on their heads.
- Partisan politics offer limited solutions and fewer results to the most important issues of our time.
In this report, we’ll take a deep dive into:
- Part One: Young People’s Approach to Making the World Suck A Little Less
- Part Two: For Young People, The Future’s So (Sort Of) Bright
- Part Three: How Young People Get Busy, Online and Off
- Part Four: Why Politics is a Game Young People Don’t Want to Play
Read on. And let these young people surprise you.
Research & Editorial Team
Jeff Bladt, Chief Data Officer, DoSomething.org
Nick McCormick, Data and Survey Research Analyst, DoSomething.org
Ben Kassoy, Editor-in-Chief, DoSomething.org
Keri Goff, Creative Director, DoSomething.org
Meredith Ferguson, Managing Director, DoSomething Strategic
Irene Pedruelo, Editor, Director of Research, DoSomething.org
Methodology
The survey was distributed to individuals ages 13–25 across the United States and its outlying territories. Prior to analysis, the data was cleaned and weighted as follows:
• Individuals with completion times of under 5 minutes were excluded from the results.
• Individuals younger than 13 years of age or older than 25 years of age were excluded from the results.
• Weights were applied to create equal representations across gender and age.
The final sample includes 3,305 observations. Results presented here are reported post-weighting, meaning that the opinions and actions of 13-year-old females are just as well represented as those of 25-year-old males.
Assuming a population size of approximately 45,000,000 13–25 year olds nationwide, a sample size of 3,305 at a 95% confidence level allows for a 1.7% margin of error.
About DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org is a global movement for good.
We’re activating 5.4 million young people (and counting!) to make positive change, both online and off. And it’s already happening in every area code in the US and in over 131 countries! When you take action with DoSomething.org, you join something bigger than yourself. You team up with the young people who’ve run the largest sports-equipment drive. And clothed over half of America’s teens in homeless shelters. And cleaned up 3.7 million(!) cigarette butts around the world. You’ve got the power and the passion to make a difference on any issue you want — we’ll help you get it done. Welcome to DoSomething.org. LET’S DO THIS.
About DoSomething Strategic
DoSomething Strategic is the data-driven social impact consultancy arm of DoSomething.org. We help brands and organizations engage young people for positive social change. We combine proprietary data with a deep understanding of what young people care about to help clients build relationships with this unique demographic and activate them for social good. Our expertise is grounded in moving 6 million DoSomething.org members — ages 13–25 in every area code in the United States and in 131 countries worldwide — to take social action, and we’ve been doing this work successfully day in and day out for over 25.
