Confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat, and open to change: This is how the Pew Research Center describes the up-and-coming generation tagged the ‘Millennials.’
The term refers to American teens and twenty-somethings who are currently starting out on the pathway to adulthood. And according to the report, they are more ethnically and racially diverse, less religious, more educated than previous generations, and the first “always connected” generation. Eighty percent of Millennials, those born after 1980, say they sleep with their cellphones by their beds, and 75 percent have a profile on a social-networking site, compared with 50 percent of Gen Xers. Fifty-five percent of Millennials who have social-networking profiles visit those sites once a day or more.
When asked what makes their generation unique, 24 percent of Millennials named “technology use.” The second most popular answer was “music/pop culture,” which was the response by 11 percent of those surveyed.
Millennials were the most likely group surveyed to agree that technology makes life easier, with 74 percent responding affirmatively compared to the overall average of 64 percent. They were also more likely than any other group to say that new technology brings family and friends closer together, with 54 percent agreeing with that statement.
The report used data collected from a phone survey of 2,020 adults.
There are lots of great nuggets of info in the report, including more information about not just technology use, but also family values, work and education, lifestyles, and priorities and outlooks.
Also, you may want to take the How Millennial Are You? quiz. For the record, I am a Millennial, and my score was only 59 out of 100. Maybe I need to get a tattoo or start playing more video games.