More reading on “connected people”, the theme of our upcoming Lift10 conference. The Economist details some of the differences between cultures when it comes to mobile phones, their place in users’ lives, the differences in etiquette and expectations, type and length of usage, etc. A strong reminder that there is no such thing as a “user”, but almost as many habits and norms as there are cultures, regions or generations.

Japan is a crowded place with lots of rules. Harried teenagers, in particular, have few chances for private conversations and talking on the phone in public is frowned upon, if not outlawed. Hence the appeal of mobile data services. […] In 2002 the average Japanese mobile user spoke on it for 181 minutes each month, about the global norm. By early 2009 that had fallen to 133 minutes, then only half the world average. […]

Others are quiet, too. On average Germans—who are fond of saying that “talk is silver, silence is golden”—spend only 89 minutes each month calling others for Handy-based conversation. […]

In contrast, Americans won’t shut up. Their average monthly talk-time is a whopping 788 minutes, though some of this is a statistical illusion because subscribers also pay for incoming calls. Yet talk is cheap: there is no roaming charge within the United States. Americans are often in their cars, an ideal spot for phone calls, especially in the many states where driving and talking without headsets is still legal.

The chattiest of all are Puerto Ricans, who have by far the highest monthly average in the world of 1,875 minutes, probably because operators on the American island offer all-you-can-talk plans for only $40, which include calls to the mainland.

Link (thx Nico)

A few facts shared by Pew Research Center on the millennials, born between 1981 and 2000. A few things are radically different, apparently for the better:

• [Millennials] are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation’s history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white.
• They are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day exit polling, this is the largest gap ever seen in a presidential election between the votes of those under and over age 30.
• They are the first generation in human history who regard behaviors like tweeting and texting […] not as astonishing innovations of the digital era, but as everyday parts of their social lives and their search for understanding.
• They are the least religiously observant youths since survey research began charting religious behavior.
• They are more inclined toward trust in institutions than were either of their two predecessor generations — Gen Xers (who are now ages 30 to 45) and Baby Boomers (now ages 46 to 64) when they were coming of age.

Link

I was a bit surprised to find that this generation has that much trust in institutions. The rest had been known for a while as the Pew explains. Generations will be one of the topic explored during the upcoming Lift10. We will try to understand and uncover the myths and realities behind the cliches, and understand the different usages of technology. Check the conference program for more.

PS: Wikipedia puts a different name on this generation. There Millennials are Generation Y (mid seventies to late nineties), and Generation Z is what the Pew calls Millennials. Confusing, but not very important at the end of the day.

Two quick links before going offline for the week-end:

A Belgium study reveals a divide among the 16-25. Most of them are good at chatting, watching videos and downloading, but some remain unable to accomplish the online tasks that “society expects from them”, like filling out an online form.

The conclusions of your study undermine some ideas about the generation of “digital natives”, which is generally believed to master the new information and communication technologies.

This is not quite the case. We wanted to examine the case of so-called “off-line” youth, which have virtually no use of Internet and computer tools. In reality, only a minority of 16-25 years are cut off from these tools. But for some of them, it is very difficult to cross the bridge between “their” Internet world - chat, downloading or listening to music and videos online - and the usage that society expects of them, starting with their employers.

It would thus be a second “digital divide”?

Yes, but it does not separate those who have Web access and those who do not have access. It is a gap between a world of entertainment and a larger universe. The skills deployed in the two worlds are not the same: to chat and lay out a document do not use the same skills, for example. During the study, facilitators of employment centers have explained that some young people took fright at an electronic registration form, while they spend maybe ten hours a day on the Web to listen music or talking with their friends.

Link (in Google english here)

I also did a quick interview (in French) for the radio of a local college here in Brittany. A fun and interesting discussion touching on innovation and education. It is one of these “expat” moment, for the Swiss I’m French, for the French I’m Swiss ;)

Entrepreneur suisse et co-créateur de la conférence internationale Lift. Il nous donne son point vue sur l’évolution des comportements sociaux liés à l’utilisation et au développement des nouvelles technologies.

Link

I just discovered Nielsen’s conference and report on teens, interesting findings that debunk a few “exciting but false” notions. Teens can read newspaper, react to traditional advertising,

“The notion that teens are too busy texting and Twittering to be engaged with traditional media is exciting, but false,” […]. Instead of replacing traditional media with new media consumption, teens are simply making time for both […]

Other myths that the report debunks are that teenagers’ preferences differ vastly from adults, that teens’ media and entertainment spending is insulated from the recession (they actually reduce it, with out-of-home entertainment more affected than in-home) and that traditional advertising can’t resonate with teens (once ads break through the clutter, teens like them more).

The leading type of media use among teens is still television, with the average teenager watching 3 hours and 20 minutes per day, debunking the myth of YouTube as the lead medium. Actually, Nielsen says that teens watch more TV than ever, with usage up 6% over the past five years in the U.S. […]

Other key findings of the study include:
* Half of all teenagers use an audio-only MP3 player each day, while one in four watch video on an mp3 player.
* On an average day, one in four teens reads the newspaper.
* While teens multi-task in their media usage, this behavior may actually be lower than among adults.
* South African, Venezuelan and Indonesian teens are the biggest couch potatoes.
* 35% of U.S. teens may have DVRs, but they prefer live TV viewing.

Link