Don’t touch that dial – a new study has found that twenty-somethings switch between electronic devices and media platforms every two minutes, light years faster than older generations.
The study, titled ‘A Biometric Day in the Life,’ was commissioned by Time Inc. and conducted by Boston’s Innerscope Research.
The goal was to understand the media consumption habits of ‘digital natives,’ or consumers who grew up with mobile technology, and ‘digital immigrants,’ consumers who learned to use mobile technology as adults.
Think quick! Twenty-somethings switch media devices or platforms once every two minutes
Billed as a groundbreaking look into technology’s affect on attention span, the study was the result of 300 hours of intensive biometric monitoring.
Study participants, 30 in all, wore glasses with embedded cameras that recorded which medium or platform they were using and for how long during nonworking hours. They also donned biometric belts that monitored their physical responses to content.
ARE YOU A DIGITAL NATIVE?
The study found that digital natives carry their devices from room to room with them (65 percent vs. 41 percent for digital immigrants), keeping their electronics no further than an arm’s length away.
In addition, more than half (54 percent) of digital natives say ‘I prefer texting people rather than talking to them’ compared with 28 percent of digital immigrants.
