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Net Generation: Pop Culture and College Students

Dr. Reynol JuncoLock Haven University

rjunco@lhup.edu

Dr. Jeanna MastrodicasaUniversity of Florida

jmastro@ufl.edu

Announcements

• Net generation survey• Net generation book• Available for consultation• Jeanna is NOT looking for a job

Presentation outline

1. Generations in U.S. history1. Generations in U.S. history

2. Characteristics of millenials2. Characteristics of millenials

3. Research on today’s college students3. Research on today’s college students

4. Communication and the Internet4. Communication and the Internet

5. Pop culture quiz5. Pop culture quiz

6. News sources6. News sources

7. Television and music7. Television and music

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Generations

•Perceived membership in a common generation

•A set of common beliefs and behaviors

•A common location in history

Generations in the U.S.

• Lost Generation (born 1883-1900)• GI Generation (born 1901-24)• Silent Generation (born 1925-42)• The Boom Generation (born 1943-60)• Generation X (born 1961-81)• Millennials (born 1982-now)

18801895

19101925

19401955

19701985

2000

Millennials: The wanted children

• Children of baby boomers• Parents wait until later in life, more affluent• “Baby on Board” signs• Marketing to children increases: Barney,

Hanson, Spice • Politicians started talking about effects on

children for first time• “Helicopter parents”

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Diversity of millennial generation

• Most racially and ethnically diverse generation

• 1 out of 5 has at least one immigrant parent; 1 in 10 has at least one non-citizen parent

• More Latino and Asian youths

7 Characteristics of Millennials(Howe and Strauss)

7 Characteristics of Millennials

Achieving

Special

Sheltered

TeamOriented

Pressured

Confident

Conventional

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Special

• Collectively vital to the nation• Individually vital to their parents’ sense of

purpose• Parental involvement in decisions • Feedback and structure for students

Sheltered

• Safety and health focus for students• Security in residence halls• Parents buying homes for students on

campus• Increase in counseling and medical needs• More scrutiny of what happens in

classroom• Post-Columbine era

Confident

• Positive reinforcement from society• Want to reinvent civic order (9/11)• Confident about future—greater danger

and fewer rewards to being different than peers

• High level of trust and optimism• Good news for selves = good news for

country

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Team-Oriented

• Learn, deliver presentations, and get graded in groups

• Activities in teams throughout childhood• Constant contact with peers via cellphone

and IM• Growing gap in gender achievement

(women)

Conventional

• Focus on big brands (e.g. Ivy League schools)

• Grew up with zero tolerance for misbehavior

• More willing to accept adult authority than other generations

• Believe that authority is telling the truth

Pressured

• Two top issues of worry for teenagers: grades and college admissions

• Intense emphasis on planning future• Seek job and life stability• Cheating increases

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Achieving

• SAT scores are the highest since 1974• Focus on not falling behind of peers• Prefer subjects where one can measure

objective progress (math, science)• Focus on accountability in schools• Should become the smartest and best-

educated generation in U.S. history

Mental Health Issues on Campus

Data from: American College Health Association. American College Health Association - National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) Web Summary. Updated September 2005. Available at:http://www.acha.org/projects_programs/ncha_sampledata.cfm. 2005.

Increase in % of Students Reporting MH Issues

0

5

10

15

20

25

SP2000 SP2001 SP2002 SP2003 SP2004 SP2005

DepressionAnxiety

2005 Freshman Norms

• 385 colleges, 263,710 entering college students in 2005

• Top goals: family, financial success; Lowest: “develop meaningful philosophy in life”(high of 85.5% in 1967)

Hurtado, S., & Pryor, J.H. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for 2005. retrieved from www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

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Social & Civic Responsibility

Change from 2004

2005

+3.041.3%Influence social values

+3.233.9%Become a community leader

+4.125.6%(highest since 1996)

Participate in community action programs

+3.966.3%(highest in 25 years)

Help others in difficulty

Important to

Hurtado, S., & Pryor, J.H. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for 2005. retrieved from www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

2005 CIRP: College-Going Decisions

• 43.7% cite “parents wanted me to go” as a very important reason

Reason for Attending College:"My Parents Wanted Me To Go"

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003

Per

cent

"ve

ry im

port

ant"

Hurtado, S., & Pryor, J.H. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for 2005. retrieved from www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

2005 CIRP: Motivations for College Attendance

Reason for Attending College:"To Be Able To Make More Money"

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003

Per

cent

"ve

ry im

port

ant"

Men

Women

Hurtado, S., & Pryor, J.H. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for 2005. retrieved from www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

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2005 CIRP: Religious Views & Participation

Frequently Discussed Religion

29.6 30.7 29.8 30.5 30.5 29.6

35.0

0

10

20

30

40

50

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005

Per

cent

"fr

eque

ntly

"

Hurtado, S., & Pryor, J.H. (2006). The American Freshman: National Norms for 2005. retrieved from www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/heri.html

CIRP Study: Academic Issues

• Grade inflation• Earning an A is at record high• A is becoming norm, rather than C• Still low amount of studying• 34% of students doing 6+ hours per week

of studying

Student Communication

• Internet• Instant Messaging• Blogging• Cell Phones• Text Messaging

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Use of the internet by age group

Age• 18-29 84%• 30-49 76%• 50-64 64%• 65+ 27%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

18-29 30-49 50-54 65+

Who’s onlineHousehold incomeLess than $30,000/yr 48%$30,000-$50,000 71%$50,000-$75,000 85%More than $75,000 92% 0

102030405060708090

100

<$30,000 $30-50,000

$50-75,000

>$75,000

Educational attainmentLess than High School 28%High School 57%Some College 79%College + 89%

0102030405060708090

100

<H.S. H.S. Some Col College +

– 46% of students reported that email allows them to express ideas to professors they otherwise wouldn’t express in person

– 19% of students reported that they communicate more with professors via email than in person

– 73% of students reported that they use the internet more than the library to search for information

Student Use of Computers

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Student Use of Technology

• According to the Pew American Life Project (2003):– 72% of all students check their email daily– 20% of today’s students began using computers between

age 5 and 8• 85.7% of students reported using a computer

frequently (CIRP, 2004)• 64.1% and 70.2% communicated via email and

IM frequently, respectively (Sax et al., 2003)• First year students spend an average of 16.3

hours per week chatting via IM (Morgan & Cotten, 2003)

IM Use and Multitasking

A comparison of Instant Messaging (IM) use and multitasking while using IM between generations. Source: The PewInternet and American Life Project (2004). How Americans use instant messaging.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Millennials Gen X TrailBoomers LeadBoomers Matures

IM Use and Multitasking by Generation

IM UseMultitask

Blogs

• Web log or blogs are public or semi-public “journals.”

• Bloggers post their entries and readers can post comments.

• Have been successfully used as alternative media.

• Xanga, Livejournal, Myspace

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Blogging

• From Feb 2004 to Jan 2005: 58% increase in blog readership overall (PEW Internet and American Life Project )

• 32 million Americans are blog readers • About 20,000 new blogs created daily

(USA Today)• Currently over 10 million blogs.

Blog Ownership & Readership

A comparison of rates of Blog Ownership and Readership between all adults who use the Internet, teenage Boys and Girls, and college students. Sources: The Pew Internet and American Life Project (2005). Teens as content creators; Mastrodicasa and Kepic (2005).

Age Distribution of Livejournal.com Users

Source: Livejournal.com, November 2005.

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Developing Blog Issues

• Stephanie Klein “Straight up and Dirty”• Employees suspended and fired for

posting about co-workers in personal blogs.

• Video and photo blogs– http://stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/

thefacebook.com

• 9th most visited website on internet• 2.8 million registered users • 800+ colleges and universities—80% of

colleges in US• 10K-20K new users per day• 300 million page-views in 24-hour period• New verb: facebooking – usage “hey,

facebook me”• Security, judicial, time-wasting issues

thefacebook.com example

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Myspace

• “Counterculture” network • Blog with facebook-type friend network

properties• Any individual can join• Music• Now owned by News Corp. (Fox)

Cell phones and text messaging

• About 134 million American adults have cell phones

• 27% of them say they have used the text message feature on those phones within the past month

• 28% say they have received unsolicited commercial text messages on their phone

Text messaging by generations

• Most likely cell phone texters are in Generation Y (ages 18-27): 63% of those with cell phones in that cohort are texters

• 31% of cell phone owners in Generation X (ages 28-39)

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Technology and Academics

• Students are using the Internet for research coupled with a decrease in the use of the library.

• Students assume information on the Internet is legitimate.

• Internet plagiarism issues– Purchasing online research papers– Cut and paste– Turnitin.com

• Kubey, Lavin, and Barrows (2001):– 9% of first year students reported that they

might be “a little psychologically dependent on the Internet”

– 14% reported that their schoolwork had been hurt occasionally, frequently, or very frequently due to Internet use

Technology and Academics

College Student/Pop Culture websites

Connect with other students:• www.thefacebook.com• www.myspace.com• www.livejournal.com• www.ratemyprofessor.com• Fun sites:• www.youtube.com• www.homestarrunner.com• www.ebaumsworld.com

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Video Games

• Gamer culture: Sony Playstation, Nintendo Revolution, Xbox 360

• “Open World” video games• Connection between Hollywood and the

gaming world• Popular game: Halo Average

age: 30!

News Sources

2004 news sources for 18-29 year olds:• 21%: Daily Show or Saturday Night Live• 23%: ABC, CBS, NBC News

In 2000: only 9% watched comedy news, with 39% watching network broadcasts

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2004

Television

• Crime Shows: CSI, Without a Trace, Law and Order, Cold Case, NCIS

• Reality TV: American Idol, Survivor, Apprentice, Bachelor, Extreme Home Makeover

• Shows on MTV/VH1: Real World, Road Rules, Best Week Ever, I love the 80’s (90’s…etc.), 8th & Ocean, Date My Mom, Run’s House, My Super Sweet 16, The Surreal Life

• Revival of the drama: The O.C., Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, 24

• Cartoons: Simpsons, Family Guy, Adult Swim, South Park, King of the Hill, Drawn Together

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Television: A New Approach?

• Current TV• “the television home page for the Internet

generation”• User-submitted content• Shows last 2-7 minutes• Half-hour news updates based on the

most popular Google news searches• Time Shifting

Technology Killed the Radio Star

• Satellite Radio• Music Downloading• PodCasting

Downloading music

• 36 million Americans download music• 7 million of them have downloaded from

someone else’s ipod or mp3 player• 10 million of them have received

music/video from e-mail or IM

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Legal issues with music

• File sharing/buying MP3’s– Kazaa– WinMx– Icarus– Itunes– Napster

• Implications for academic integrity and student understanding of intellectual property. Fuzzy “cheating” boundaries.

• Universities subscribing to file sharing services

Music

• R&B (Ne-yo, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, James Blunt)

• Hip-hop still rules (Black Eyed Peas, Eminem)

• Other genres (Nickelback, Gorillaz, All-American Rejects)

• Pop music for some (Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy)

Resources• Higher Education Research Institute. (2003, 2004) The American

freshman: National norms for Fall 2003, 2004. • Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2000). Millennials rising: The next great

generation. New York: Vintage Books.• Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2005). Millennials go to college.

Washington, DC: American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions officers.

• Jones, S. (2002, September) The internet goes to college: How students are living in the future with today’s technology. Pew Internet and American Life Project.

• Marano, H. E. (2004, November/December). A nation of wimps.Psychology Today.

• Murray, J. & Serven, S. (2006). FBK 101: Facebook Basics.• Oblinger, D. (2003) Boomers, Gen-Xers, & Millennials:

Understanding the new students. EDUCAUSE Review, 37-47.

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Questions