Millennials : A New Approach to this Generation of Students

1. Millennials: A New Approach to this Generation of Students Dr. Jeanna Mastrodicasa Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs University of Florida

2. Generations • Perceived membership in a common generation • A set of age locations, common beliefs and behaviors • A common location in history • Broad generalization about an entire generation

3. 1880 1895 1910 1925 1940 1955 1970 1985 2000 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)

4. Millennials: The Entitled • Children of Baby Boomers • Parents wait until later in life, more affluent • “Baby on Board” signs • Marketing to children increases: Barney, Hanson, Spice • Family decision making, e.g. vacations • Politicians started talking about effects on children for first time • “Helicopter parents” • Strong sense of entitlement and high expectations of personal reward

5. Some definitions of millennials • Confident • Connected • Open to Change • --Pew Research Center • Special • Sheltered • Confident • Team-oriented • Conventional • Pressured • Achieving • --Howe and Strauss

6. Are millennials more narcissistic than other generations? • Some say YES: • Some studies show more narcissistic personality disorder (the clinical form of the trait) • You can now hire fake paparazzi to follow you around at night! • Cultural evidence: • plastic surgery has increases 5X in ten years • Square footage of US homes nearly doubled in 30 yrs • Levels of debt increased16% to 19% of disposable income • Circulation of gosssip magazines up while others down

7. Millennial relationships with parents • Perpetual access to parents (cell phones) keeps them in a permanent state of dependency • Today’s children don’t know how to solve problems or to plan ahead • Median frequency of communication: 1.5 times per day • Parents do problem solving for college students and new professionals in work world

8. Theory of “Emerging Adulthood” (Arnett) • A developmental phase between ages 18 and 35 when people assume adult responsibilities more gradually than previous generations. • At the same time, these individuals claim rights of adulthood.

9. “Electronic Tether” (Fullman) • Describes connection students and parents maintain through cell phones, IM, and other cheap and convenient communication. • Extends “Emerging Adulthood” to describe the role technology plays in extending relationships with home instead of creating independence. • Delays development of Chickering’s “Autonomy” vector. • Faculty/staff and students are actors in both of these theories

10. Millennial work attitudes compared to boomers Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, and Lance, 2010

11. Students Use of Technology and Communication • Cell phones • Texting • Internet • Social media • Facebook • Twitter

13. Older adults: 65 and older • 53% of American adults ages 65 and older use the internet or email • Once online, most seniors make internet use a regular part of their lives • After age 75, internet and broadband use drops off significantly • Seven in ten seniors own a cell phone, up from 57% two years ago • One in three online seniors uses social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn Pew Internet, June 2012

14. Smart phones: how users describe their feelings about them From Pew Internet and American Life Project, Aaron Smith, July 11, 2011, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Smartphones.aspx

15. Who does a majority of their activity on their cell phones? • Nearly half of all 18-29 year olds (45%) who use the internet on their cell phones do most of their online browsing on their mobile device. • Half (51%) of African-American cell internet users do most of their online browsing on their phone, double the proportion for whites (24%). Two in five Latino cell internet users (42%) also fall into the “cell-mostly” category. Pew Internet, June 2012

16. Cell phones and texting • Cell phone calls are viewed as an interruption, impolite if unscheduled. • Many rely on voice mail and return call by text or email • Caller ID has role in decision of answering the telephone

17. Cell phones and texting Source: Nielsen reported in Washington Post, August 8, 2010

18. Teens and texting • The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. Older teens, boys, and blacks are leading the increase. Texting is the dominant daily mode of communication between teens and all those with whom they communicate. Pew Internet, March 2012

19. Teen usage • The frequency of teens’ phone chatter with friends – on cell phones and landlines – has fallen. But the heaviest texters are also the heaviest talkers with their friends. • About one in four teens report owning a smartphone. • Smartphone owners are the most likely to have used a tablet computer to go online in the last month. • Three quarters of teens – 77% – have cell phones. Ownership among younger teens has dropped since 2009. • 6% of all American teens use cell phone-based location services. Pew Internet, March 2012

21. Is your web presence mobile-ready?

28. Facebook statistics • 901 million monthly active users at the end of March 2012. • Approximately 80% of our monthly active users are outside the U.S. and Canada. • 526 million daily active users on average in March 2012. • 488 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products in March 2012, and more than 500 million mobile monthly active users as of April 20, 2012. • During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of the last seven days. • More than 125 billion friend connections on Facebook at the end of March 2012. • On average more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook per day in the three months ended March 31, 2012. • An average of 3.2 billion Likes and Comments generated by Facebook users per day during the first quarter of 2012. • More than 42 million Pages with ten or more Likes at the end of March 2012. Facebook is available in more than 70 languages.

29. Facebook usage • Grow your fan base • Do targeted Facebook advertising • Plan your timing with blasts on email, mobile, social media • Other good suggestions from audience…

33. The “backchannel”: A networked audience • Real time text communication among audience members using something like Twitter during a live event • Connected in real time, learning with each other and the world all the time • Unlimited seats! • Changes the presenters, the audience, and the rest of the world outside the room --Bingham and Conner. (2011). The New Social Learning, p. 152.

34. Thank you! • Questions? • Discussion • Contact: Jeanna Mastrodicasa at jmastro@ufl.edu