Youth, Media & Technology: Inky fingers and 10 hours of Xbox

Thursday morning played host to MediaTel’s third annual Youth, Media & Technology event, which, in partnership with Channel 4, saw the results from the latest Tribes research showcased.

However, it was the five lively – and often brutally honest – teenagers who really stole the show, taking to the stage to discuss a huge range of topics, including their relationships with technology, advertising and social media.

Though adamant that advertising has little influence over their consumer habits, the more the teens talked, the more it became apparent that they’re perhaps not as immune as they think…

Brave New World

Before the panel got going, James Burke from Kantar Media set the scene, demonstrating that today’s young people have access to a variety of screens, revealing that 97% of 16-24 year olds live in homes with a television and 81% own a smartphone.

Younger people also led the way when it came to dual-screening, with 71% using smartphones whilst watching TV and 69% using a laptop.

Burke said that the phone is now a “personal entertainment device,” and the proceeding discussion from the panel certainly backed that up.

Unsurprisingly, each member of the panel – which was chaired by BBC Media Correspondent Torin Douglas and made up of Anna (19), Jamie (16), Tom (14), Beth (16) and Conor (16) – own a phone, though perhaps more surprisingly, only one of them has an iPhone.

The other devices included a Samsung Galaxy, a Blackberry and a good old classic Nokia, because “you only really need a phone for calling and texting.”

The proud Nokia owner, Conor, was the only one to say that they could live without their phone, instead using their Xbox console and Samsung Smart TV to connect with people. Gone are the days when your mum had to shout down the street to get you to come home for dinner.

So what do the teens use their mobiles for?

The answers ranged from checking social media sites – almost religiously in some cases – to watching TV and films, with Tom admitting that he used his phone to watch videos on YouTube whilst playing on his Xbox and chatting to friends. Phew.

Immune to ads?

Steering the debate away from mobile and towards live TV, Jamie said he’s not interested. “I don’t watch live TV because I hate adverts,” – and this attitude seemed to sum up the general views of the panel, with some going to slightly more extreme lengths than others to avoid seeing ads.

“I usually record a programme on Sky, wait about 15 minutes, then play it and can fast forward it when the ads come on,” said Jamie, whilst Anna, who’s is in her first year of university, said that she has an ad blocker installed into her browser so she doesn’t have to watch the ads on video on-demand platforms.

During the time that the ads run – both on linear TV and online – the teens said that they tend to get up and do something else. However, they were quick to talk about a variety of adverts, ranging from 3’s popular dancing pony to a Gangnam style dancing baby, concluding that they would be more likely to remember an ad if it was humorous.

So they clearly do see them – but they only seemed to remember the funny ones.

The less obvious ads

Torin Douglas dug hard for answers and pursued a question from the floor asking whether any of the teenagers were influenced by celebrity endorsement or product placement.

Tom, who sometimes spends up to ten hours a day on his Xbox, said that he doesn’t think he’s affected by product placement at all, whereas Beth said that she would be more influenced by an ad if a celebrity that she liked was involved.

“I haven’t ever noticed it but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” Anna said. She also said she finds the more subtle, less intrusive advertising more appealing and wants the decision to buy something to be hers; she does not want to be “pressured into buying something.”

By this point there were some anxious faces in the audience from ad creatives (summed up nicely by a tweet from News International), but if the panel are so immune to advertising, how do they decide what brands to buy? How do they know about new games, films and fashions?

“By word of mouth,” said Anna, who would happily smell a friend’s hair to help her decide on a shampoo to buy. That, and the trust that you develop with a brand – often over many years.

“Once you trust a brand, you’re reluctant to move away,” she added, with Jamie agreeing that trust is key in maintaining a loyal consumer, which is why you “don’t need advertising,” he said.

“I always buy the new version of Fifa. I love it so much and I know I want to buy it because I trust them. Otherwise I only choose a product by trial and error.”

Lots of bad deodorant choices then? “Yeah, you start with Lynx then try a mate’s and get that one instead.”

But as Torin probed, it became apparent that the teens are more exposed to – and influenced by – advertising and marketing messages than they think.

Beth said that you don’t necessarily need advertising to inform you of a brand because there are shop window displays that draw you in – but a shop window display is an advertisement for the brand. And Conor said that he ‘likes’ pages on Facebook for games and films, which is of course, another advertising platform for brands.

On the subject of social media, it was clear that the majority of the panel are social media savvy, commenting that they use Facebook and Twitter on both laptops and mobile devices.

“A few years ago, you’d contact friends by phones,” said Beth, “but now you can use social media too.”

Social media has, indeed, become a platform of communication that has integrated itself deeper and deeper into our culture in a remarkably short time, and will undoubtedly continue to do so. As well as using social media for communicating with friends, the panel also said that they use Twitter as a source for news.

“Print is a dying age,” shrugged Jamie. “The only paper I deliberately pick up is the [free] Metro for the sport but I don’t really like it ’cause I get inky fingers.”

Beth sort of agrees. “I might read the paper…but only if my dad buys it,” she said. But she also said that she enjoys a printed book. None of the panel seemed interested in Kindles, so traditional print publishers might want to breathe a sigh of relief, for the moment.

The panel showed little interest in printed news and agreed that that most of their news was sourced online. However, when asked if they would pay for online news, particularly in light of the recent news that the Daily Telegraph and the Sun will be introducing paywalls, four out of five said they wouldn’t, which leaves them in a bit of a dilemma if they don’t want to get inky fingers either.

But then there’s always the BBC – name-checked by most at some point.

Radio

Most of the panel listened to the radio – Kiss, Heart, Radio One and Capital were all popular. Anna even said that the radio – tuned to Heart – in her student flat was always on. “You can go into our kitchen at 3am and it will be playing,” she said.

So the question on everyone’s lips, and to bring the debate to a close: do they ever put their devices down and switch off?

“I even text in the bath!” said Anna, though some of the others admitted to taking a little bit of time out from their techno-absorbed worlds to read a “real book” or play a board game.

The main problem that they find is that there’s always something there to distract them. If it’s not a mobile, it’s a laptop; if it’s not a laptop, it’s an iPod and if not an iPod an X-Box. In an always on age it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get away from it all.

And it’s safe to say that in a world full of advertising, nobody is really immune.