Social media a new form of entertainment for GenY: Survey

It’s official. Facebook is the new form of entertainment for GenY, says the TCS GenY Survey 2011-12, conducted by the information technology (IT) firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

As many as 85 per cent of high school students use Facebook and only 0.71 per cent use television for entertainment, according to the survey. In 2009, the number of Facebook users was only 17 per cent.

About 12,300 high school students across 12 cities represent GenY in this survey.

“A combination of more bandwidth, availability of smart devices and the surging popularity of social networks is changing the way India’s high school students conduct their academic and social lives,” said N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS.

While mobile phones figure highest on the list of favourite gadgets for GenY, personal computers continue to dominate the list of devices used to access the web, at 68.2 per cent, while the laptops figure second at 49.35 per cent.

The survey adds that an increase in internet penetration into households has resulted in a significant drop in the popularity of schools and cyber cafes as avenues to access the internet. As many as 84.3 per cent students access the internet at home, while 20-22 per cent students use school computers or cyber cafes to connect.

The use of internet, however, is at 74 per cent for doing research work for school, with chatting and connecting to friends coming second at 67.8 per cent. Also, at 33.3 per cent, most students accessed the internet for 30 to 60 minutes, while only 5.4 per cent accessed the same for over three hours.

Around 58.6 per cent respondents, however, prefer voice calls to communicate with friends.

While 44 per cent students used e-mail as the next mode of communication, 33 per cent use instant messaging and 27.5 per cent use Twitter or Facebook to communicate.

Mobile phones are the most favourite gadget of the high school students with 28 per cent respondents all over India voting for it. In Delhi, this number was higher at 35.8 per cent with ownership numbers even higher, at 86 per cent. Also, 42 per cent of the students who own mobile phones use it to access the internet.