Millennials and ICT—Findings from the Technology 4 Young Adults (T4YA) Project: An Exploratory Study

Hannah R Marston

doi:10.3390/soc9040080

Abstract

Information communication technology (ICT) is becoming a pivotal element in the twenty-first century, and while there has been substantial work conducted to understand ICT use by older adults, there is a paucity of knowledge relating to ICT use and behavior by Millennials. The Technology 4 Young Adults (T4YA) study opens the discussion to the barriers and enablers of ICT by Millennials in their day-to-day activities. Eight participants aged 18–33 years were recruited, and open-ended questions were posed to the focus groups participants. A total of three focus groups were conducted, two focus groups were conducted in Pontefract (West Yorkshire, England) and one focus group was conducted in Swansea (West Glamorgan, Wales); all focus groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Primary themes included: hardware, privacy issues/concerns, confidence, usability/functionality, day-to-day activities, and content/sharing of information. Day-to-day activities were undertaken primarily on smartphones, such as online banking and shopping, while privacy and trust concerns was a conversation thread throughout the discussions. Further work is needed with larger sample sizes, taking a multi-methods approach to extract quantitative data to underpin qualitative data analysis and frameworks. This exploratory study intersects at the fields of social sciences and human–computer interaction.

Highlights

90% of United Kingdom (UK) adults aged between 16 and 44 years old are users of the Internet, in comparison to 44% of adults aged 75+ years old [1]
The Technology 4 Young Adults (T4YA) exploratory study aimed to examine the experiences of information communication technology (ICT) use by Millennials aged between 18 and 34 years and explore the day-to-day use of ICTs and privacy issues by Millennials living in England and Wales, UK
Grounded on the findings presented here, no one social media platform was the preferred choice by the participants

Summary

Introduction

90% of UK adults aged between 16 and 44 years old are users of the Internet, in comparison to 44% of adults aged 75+ years old [1]. While Vogels [4] and Dimock [5] report that those adults who are aged between 38 and 53 years (2018) are Generation X (1965–1980) and the Millennial generation commences at various stages starting from the mid-1970s onwards, Nielsen [3] provides a somewhat different perspective (Table 1). The developments in ICT have led to a change in device usage from desktop to mobile and smartphones, facilitating greater access and usage of the Internet, social media platforms, and mobile apps (mApps). Since 2014 there has been more than 81% of Millennials engaging with social media platforms [8]. Social media platforms offer users a variety of activities, including chatting with friends, sharing information (i.e., news, photographs), updating statuses, and taking ‘selfies’ (i.e., a photograph of yourself)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion