Today, while having my Toyota worked on, as I sat reading in the lounge, I watched as two guys–one in his early 20’s (generation y), the other at least 70 (baby boomer)–use their mobile devices. I think the young guy was on the mobile Web with a Sidekick and the elderly gentleman was intently reading data off a large mobile device unknown to me. Oh, the elderly guy also had a bluetooth headset over his right ear.
As I glanced up from my BlackBerry and newspaper, I saw the younger stranger quietly make one phone call. Despite the bluetooth headset, the older fellow made 0 phone calls. The dichotomy of two generations of mobile users, separated by at least 50 years, sitting next to each other, struck me as demographically interesting.
We’ve all either read the research or made assumptions about Gen-Y’ers in their 20’s clinging to mobile or cell phones, either chatting or madly IM’ing their friends. Little do we ever hear about the aged engrossed in mobile phones. What’s happening? Is it the device or the content appearing on the device that is bridging generations?
Penelope Trunk, who writes a blog called “Brazen Careerist: Advice at the Intersection of Work and Life,” perceptively writes: “We should determine our generation not by our age but by how we use media.” Very provocative.
Quoting Margaret Weigel, formerly at Harvard and MIT, Trunk argues that we tend to adopt the media that our friends adopt as part of our “digital media engagement” patterns: that “baby boomers.” “Gen X, Y, Z” or whatever are just labels sociologists create to divide the masses.
In her blog post “What Generation are you Part of, Really, Take This Test,” Trunk, based on an interview with Weigel, presents a 12 point “media generational” test that categorizes humans based on media usage.
The media behavioral questions, some relevant to mobile device use, are interesting. Take her test:
Do you have your own web page? (1 point)
Have you made a web page for someone else? (2 points)
Do you IM your friends? (1 point)
Do you text your friends? (2 points)
Do you watch videos on YouTube? (1 point)
Do you remix video files from the Internet? (2 points)
Have you paid for and downloaded music from the Internet? (1 point)
Do you know where to download free (illegal) music from the Internet? (2 points)
Do you blog for professional reasons? (1 point)
Do you blog as a way to keep an online diary? (2 points)
Have you visited MySpace at least five times? (1 point)
Do you communicate with friends on Facebook? (2 points)
Do you use email to communicate with your parents? (1 point)
Did you text to communicate with your parents? (2 points)
Do you take photos with your phone? (1 point)
Do you share your photos from your phone with your friends? (2 points)
0-1 point – Baby Boomer
2-6 points – Generation Jones
6- 12 points – Generation X
12 or over – Generation Y
What “media generation” do you belong to?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Excellent article. Agree with Trunk’s analysis, generations were used to divide masses. Today technologies erased (or at least have blurred) the generation gaps
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