What has lockdown done to the entrepreneurial spirits of the youth?
Many have reported changes in the way the youth consume digital content during the COVID pandemic, but what about trends around production? The average person spends their life toggling between consumer and producer roles. I hypothesise that lockdown has us rethinking our identities as producers, which we have reinvented into an enterprising and democratized form.
In normal times, as May comes June and students wrap up their term-time commitments, indulgent summer spending becomes routine. But this year is different, and being stuck at home has accelerated the pace at which we want to try new things. For example, the number of Twitch streamers worldwide increased by about 70% in the last 4 months, from 3.35M in December 2019 to 5.67M in April 2020, and Americans have been starting blogs at twice the rate they did in 2019.
You may ask — what is so entrepreneurial about streaming on Twitch? The key difference here is between playing video games and streaming them live to entertain an audience. These Twitch-preneurs are part of the new democratised face of e-entertainment, one where you can as easily produce as you can consume. And they have made the active choice to be a producer.
There are many other examples of small-time producers springing up everywhere. Whether it’s selling 10 pound lockdown fitness plans, home-made gift baskets for Eid, starting cooking channels on youtube, or sharing innovative solutions to personal protective equipment. The extra time on our hands gave us the creative nudge we needed, and as we experiment with producing new content, we inevitably expose new facets of our lives and take on new online personas.
On social media, the youth are increasingly outspoken, producing and circulating posts reflecting on the realities of these unprecedented times. A global crisis that has everyone rallying around a shared experience, combined with a dependence on social media for communication has created an urgent and compelling reason to hit “publish”. Taking many of us from passive consumer to active producer.
The reality of course is that despite the increase in production amongst the youth, out in the real world conventional entrepreneurship is suffering and unemployment is now a big problem. That cannot be denied. However, at the risk of romanticising the power of streaming, podcasting and blogging, we are reminded of the importance of small business, of the socially-oriented, and of the Jugaad.
So what will be the legacy of this new generation of producers? I believe we are creating new, domesticated yet accessible meanings of “fail fast”, and the effects of this will show in the next wave of young workers. Particularly as they graduate into a declining job market, they will need to produce creatively in order to survive. And as they start producing recreationally during lockdown, the hope is that the personal brand, unique voice and enterprising mind stays with them for the long haul.
