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Millennials are not the biggest social media addicts

While Millennials are the generation most associated with the modern world of Instagramming deser...
Newstalk
Newstalk

17.56 27 Jan 2017


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Millennials are not the bigges...

Millennials are not the biggest social media addicts

Newstalk
Newstalk

17.56 27 Jan 2017


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While Millennials are the generation most associated with the modern world of Instagramming deserts and Twitter feuds, new information from the US shows that they are not the group most obsessed with social media.

A Nielsen report has revealed that Generation X actually spend more time than their younger siblings scrolling through friends' updates.

According to the New York Times, adults between the ages of 35 and 49 spend an average of six hours and 58 minutes on social media every week.

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This is compared with the six hours and 19 minutes that millennials are devoting to it.

Somewhat less surprisingly, those over the age of 50 spend far less time communicating online, with an average of four hours and nine minutes every week.

Picture by Natacha Pisarenko AP/Press Association Images

Sean Casey, the president of Nielsen's social division, commented on the counterintuitive findings, as "the going thought is that social is vastly owned by the younger generation".

"It's kind of synonymous," he said. "When you think of Millennials, you think of social."

Casey, who is 46, went on to say he unravelled the mystery of the study when he realised his generation was to first to grow up with Facebook, which arrived when Generation x was at the top of its media consumption.

"It's become second nature to our generation," he noted.

Nielsen's report was based on data from 9,000 smartphone and 1,300 tablet users in the US, analysing their activity between July and September last year.

More Millennials were found to have smartphones, with 97% of 18-34 year-olds owning the devices, compared to 94% of Gen X-ers. Some 77% of those over 50 use smartphones.


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