A report by a 15-year-old work experience student at an investment banking firm, about teenagers and the media, says young people don’t listen to the radio, go to the cinema or use Twitter. But are there other teenage habits that might come as a surprise
When Matthew Robson, on work experience from his London school at US bank Morgan Stanley, was asked to describe his friends’ media habits, he had little idea the impact his answers would have.
His report has been the talk of web bosses and media analysts, and even caused a ripple at a conference in Idaho, US, attended by some of the world’s leading figures in new media.
Although some of his findings were predictable – it was already well known that teenagers don’t like to pay for music – he also said that teenagers find it hard to make time for television, don’t like Twitter or traditional radio, and rarely go to the cinema.
But beyond the world of new media, what else do teenagers do Thirteen-year-old Scott Campbell, who lives in Aberdeenshire, gives his view.
ENVIRONMENT
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of teens are not particularly worried about the environment. There is a small minority of youngsters who are active in attempting to help the environment, but with homework, school, friendships and often a job, teens often do not have time to help the environment. Teens may also see that the gradually-worsening environment can have benefits (global warming brings warmer weather) at this current time, but often do not consider the future risks of not attempting to save it.
NEWSPAPERS
Teenagers have never been avid newspaper buyers. Today’s young teens think the act of parting with up to £1 for the very same words that can been read absolutely free on a newspaper website, borders on the perverse. Why pay for something that’s free And the "old media" is not as interesting to teens as it used to be, as it is often late with coverage of important events. For example, the death of Michael Jackson was on the web within minutes, whereas it was only in the newspapers the next morning. This does not mean there is a lack of teen intellect, it instead means that the majority of teenagers are utilising the new forms of media. Teens will often read free papers such as the Metro, which also include celebrity gossip and shocking stories and are more interesting than stories about the economy or swine flu.
VIDEO NEWS
A large percentage of teens prefer to get their news from popular YouTube stars, such as Philip DeFranco (general, odd news) and Michael Buckley (entertainment news), as it is presented in a more human, conversational format. YouTube is incredibly interactive; comments can be left and the presenter can be messaged; teens do not like a one-way conduit of information. It also takes out the inconvenience of having to trawl through news sources to try and find interesting stories, as news sources are often "polluted" with uninteresting news, for example, about the credit crunch or the expenses scandal. Human interest stories which either humiliate the subject or are particularly unusual are mostly preferred.
COMPUTER GAMES
While adults may think that computer games turn teens into gangsters, murderers and thugs (in a werewolf-like transformation), they do not. Teens play games to take on the role of the character that they are playing, and to try out the situations virtually. While games may provide the player to carry out acts which would be considered to be crimes, most games still provide the player with consequences to their actions, such as being arrested, and having weapons confiscated (in game, of course). The gamer will often begin to think morally about the situations when they take on the mantle of a particular character. Furthermore, many games present teens with a positive influence, such as Guitar Hero, which I don’t doubt has encouraged many teenagers to take up the guitar.
LAZINESS
The wide belief that teenagers are "lazy" and like to sleep in is not true. A large number of teens play sport, which regularly requires very early mornings. As well as this, most teenagers have to wake up earlier than the average adult worker to get to school on time. Also, a large amount of homework is set by multiple subject teachers, meaning that teens will have to stay up extra late to accommodate the extra tasks. Over the week (and at weekends if sport is involved) a large lack of sleep will make most people want to have a long lie.
Scott Campbell co-edits his own news website,Net News Dailyand wroteGiving up my iPod for a Walkman for the Magazine.
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