Tommy James captured
teenage lust in the 1960s with his hit song My
Baby Does the Hanky-Panky. If the song was written today it might be My Baby Does the Hanky-Panky While Texting.
According to
research recently released by Coupofy [link] Smartphones have become so central
to the lives of U.S. millennials that one in three checks their phone right
after love making, 12 percent check before they’re finished, and 35 percent
check their phones at least twice an hour during their Time Spent F***ing (“TSF”).
The takeaway for
noncommercial media folks is that we MUST be on this platform if we want to
be relevant to folks in the millenial age demo.
Coupofy did a
survey of 2,000 millennials, chosen from their online database of online and
mobile shoppers. I can’t vouch for the quality of this research but it seems to
depict reality as I see it.
Other key findings
in the Coupofy study include:
• 20% of
millennials said they can’t keep track of how often they check their phones
during the day, but said it’s definitely more than 10 times an hour.
• 73% of
millennials sleep with their Smartphone by the bed.
• 28% of
U.S. millennials prefer shopping on their Smartphones rather than on computers.
• More than 68%
of millennials consume Smartphone-delivered news through Facebook. Instagram
is the primary source of news for 24 percent of high school students.
• 18% of
millennials browsing the news first thing in the morning think their
Smartphones make them smarter.
WHEN SMARTPHONES BECOME
ADDICTIVE
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| Photo: Washington Post |
Concern continues
to rise about the addictive effect of Smartphone usage. Not only are
Smartphones important for sexual hook ups, they define millennial life. In 2013 Mobile Consumer Habits reported [link]
12 percent use their devices when they are in the shower, and more than 50 percent
acknowledged they text while driving, even though they know that it is more
dangerous than driving drunk.
The study found
that 19% millenials check their Smartphones in a church or place of worship, 33%
use them while on a dinner date and 35% receive and send text messages while in
a movie theater.
Another 2011 study [link] found that 20 percent of American women would give up sex for a week over giving up the ability to check their Facebook page on their Smartphone.
There are
downsides to constant Smartphone use:
In 2015, a report
from BBC News claimed that Smartphones are as addictive
as cocaine. According to
the report, Smartphone addiction increases apathy towards where and when they
connect. Some people escape into their Smartphones and even pretend to be
texting to avoid actual contact with people.
Twelve percent of
respondents in the study said they believe their Smartphone gets in the way of
their personal relationships. Smartphones make it socially acceptable to
disregard the existence of everything and everyone else in the world.
ONLINE & MOBILE PORN'S
IMPACT ON MEDIA USAGE
The availability of
digital pornography is important in the adoption of one media platform over
another. For instance, porn helped establish
VHS as the dominant video-cassette format over Beta in the 1980s. Many people bought VHS decks so they could
watch dirty movies in the privacy of their homes.
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| GRINDR is a popular gay hookup app |
Now the same
phenomenon is occurring with Smartphones. Apps for dating and hookups are
widely popular, particularly with younger users. They are teaching users how to
use apps for more than just sex. Digital devices such as Smartphones are increasing
used for all aspects of life.
Porn is a teaching tool for new technology. Public
media, particularly public radio, can take advantage of millennial’s digital
literacy by being insight-and in-mind in the Smartphone user universe. And we can
even keep our clothes on if we want to.
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