NEW YORK — If the emoji movie wasn't symbolic enough of today's youth, perhaps this will rattle your foundation: A new survey finds that 7 in 10 millennials and the younger Gen Z prefer to communicate digitally — mostly by text message — than in person.
Researchers at LivePerson, a business solutions provider, polled more than 4,000 young adults under between age 18 and 34 in a handful of Western nations, helping them discover the priorities and preferences of today’s millennials and Gen Z.
Globally, 65 percent of those surveyed indicated they talk to peers more frequently via texting or a mobile, but that number is even higher in English-speaking nations. In both the United States and in the United Kingdom, about 74 percent of millennials and Gen Z communicate digitally more frequently with others.
As for the tool of choice for digital correspondence, about 73 percent of Americans and 74 percent of those in the UK prefer text messages. That number dipped to about 69 percent globally.
The survey also discovered another odd quirk of today's young adults: about 62 percent would rather forget their wallet at home than their phone when going out.
Seventy percent of the participants said that they slept within arm’s length of their phone, and a  hair more than half said they'd check their phone for any notifications should they wake up in the middle of the night.
When it comes to bathroom breaks, nearly 66 percent brought their device with them to the toilet, which highlights the ubiquity of connectivity.
Large minorities believed it was fine to use their phone in contexts that would likely be considered improper by elders, such as at the dining table (42 percent) or in the middle of a conversation (28 percent).
Nearly 70 percent of the group surveyed said they could see a future in which all purchases are made online, and most young consumers prioritized using technology when they needed assistance with a product or service.
“We wanted to look more closely at the younger consumer audience, across different countries, and in more depth than the well-known trope that young people love their smartphones,” says Rurik Bradbury, LivePerson’s global head of communications and research, of the study’s origins, in a press release. “What we see in the research data is the phone truly becoming an extension of the self, and the platforms and apps within it— digital life— occupying more than their offline interactions.”
The poll reached millennials and Gen Z members across six countries— the U.S., the UK, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan — in mid-September.
Administered by independent research firm Survata, participants received no compensation for their input.
LOL...that is because most are socially retarded
They were never taught how to deal with real life.
Like being chipped with a brain implant to control you, only it is voluntary.....
See how much they like a digital prostate exam!
I never want to do what others are doing. I stare at a computer at work so I don't want to play with a phone in my free time. No one is doing anything very important on these phones. I just see people checking the junk email and playing games. When I get into a taxi or go to a store, everyone wants to talk to me because I am looking around and present in the moment, not tuned out on a device. I am a rarity these days and like it. I will rule the world because I know how to speak and communicate without a device. Now I know why everyone wants to talk to me- a human without a device is such a rare thing these days.
What a shame.
Not really. Have you ever tried to have a face-to-face conversation with one of them?
And what is the percentage of those that will whore themselves out to be rich and famous?
Because once you talk to some of them in person you realize you're wasting your time.
Generation iZombie
Smartphone zombie apocalypse.
Texting is not communicating . 70% of communication is non verbal. One wonders if they are afraid of the intamacy of real communication.
When parents give kids cell phones at the age of 5 or 6, what can you expect?
When the parents are texting at dinner and ignoring the kids, what can you expect?
This is the “devolution” of society and the rise of mass social programming wherein, what
you see on your phone must be reality. Orwell would be proud.
How do they get laid?
Two generations that are, for all intents and purposes, socially dysfunctional. And they wonder why people call them snowflakes.
As an adult...I truly feel sorry for this up and coming generation...
It's no longer a “couch potato” concern as it was for my age bracket...but now has become a “house potato” scenario where Snowflakes and such will “live” detached from human interaction embracing digitized communication done so in the confines of four walls...
I couldn't even finish this article. So I texted it to myself to read later.