Virtual reality is reality to our youth

I just saw a copy of the latest McCann Erickson intergenerational study that takes a close up view of what our young people are thinking and doing. They did similar studies in 1992 and 2000 and each time, the results are not only eye popping, I even found them emotional. We have all those preconceived notions of youth, based on how we lived ours, not knowing how different it is for the youth of today.

Compared to the youth in 1992 and 2000, the youth today have more worries and concerns. This longer list of worries is mainly due to the easier access to information through the Internet and other forms of technology. The use of technology and virtual connectivity has created the great divide and 30 seem to be the cut off age. The study covered 2,000 respondents across all social classes and across all regions of the country.

Today’s teenagers are not as naïve as we perceive them to be. Compared to the youth in 1992 and 2000, the youth today have more worries and concerns, varying from air and water pollution to earning money for food to growing older alone. This wider scope and longer list of worries and concerns among teens is mainly due to the easier access to information through the Internet and other forms of technology.

For teenagers today, virtual reality is reality. They are watching less television, listening to the radio less, reading less books and magazines and spending less time in face to face interaction with friends. They are also spending less money on traditional consumer goods, thanks to virtual connectivity technology like text messaging and the Internet. More and more, the study revealed, their lives are being lived virtually.

The good news is, teens are more committed to schoolwork these days. From 100 minutes spent studying a day in 2000, they are now taking 122 minutes. School to them is "a practical means to reach a set of goals that are clearer, more tangible, and more reachable than ever."

In other words, education to them is a way out of poverty to a better life. This is why they choose courses that provide them marketable skills, like nursing. Going abroad is among their top goals, in fact, they are mostly planning their future around finding work abroad. And helping or repaying parents is not just an obligation to them, but a sign of success.

Raised by the culture of immediacy through technology, the new generation of workers, the study found out, "no longer wants to nurture long careers that can take them from the cubicle to the corner office like the yuppies of the 80s and 90s." They are looking for jobs that pay well sooner, rather than later. Exposed to the phenomenon of the 20 something IT millionaires, there is pressure to rise above mere financial difficulty, the McCann study observed.

Surprisingly, the teens today are not "wilder" than the older people. On the contrary, McCann found out that they are more conservative particularly against the 20-somethings. There are regional differences, however… conservative Luzon, liberal Mindanao and Metro Manila evolving to more liberal norms.

But here’s something sad… only about half of the teens live their daily lives with both their parents versus 65 percent in 2000. This is mostly due to work, school or divorce/separation, which is also becoming more real. Less than half of the teens believe divorce is wrong. Government’s OFW strategy for economic growth is taking its toll on the Filipino family.

The youth are also more plugged in these days and expectedly, also more stressed out. They are seeing, experiencing more things sooner. They are more sensitized and more aware of everything. They now worry about more things than just finding a job. They are worried about pollution, drugs, criminality, getting sick, failing to provide for their families and growing old alone. They are, like a recent Hollywood movie heroine, 14, turning 40.

Because they have more access to more information, they can choose content they want to consume. Communicators cannot mask, sanitize or romanticize things for them. They cannot be fooled because they know reality… they know the real score. I wonder if this is at the root of the failure of government to increase its credibility these days. This is also why reality TV is a hit with them. The Internet is a credible source of information and traditional advertising seems fabricated to them.

Wow! As it was when they released their past two studies, this McCann study is an eye opener. It is comforting to know that our teens are more responsible these days than even we were in our time. The times are hard and our teens seem to know that and are preparing themselves to meet the challenge with some amount of determination. That provides this country a lot of hope for its future.

Sure they are planning to leave the country for jobs abroad but it seems too that the ties that bind still bind as strongly as ever. They will likely come back to take care of their parents and bring back as well, the skills and attitudes that would finally catapult this country into the ranks of developed nations.

The potential of technology to level the social and economic playing field is also there. The easy access to information should also help keep government and private business more honest. Spinning is not effective with this plugged in generation. I thought, as I read the summary of the study, that the study gives us confidence this country’s future will be in good hands.

McCann Erickson deserves our congratulations for undertaking this study and helping us understand ourselves a little better. Over all, the hopeful message of a responsible generation of young people really made my day. Now, if only we can pass a constitutional amendment that will ban anyone over 30 from assuming high public office, maybe we would be better off.

Bio ethanol

A friend of mine had dinner with a Japanese official of a vehicle manufacturing company and he had some worthwhile comments on the bio substitutes/supplements to petroleum-based fuel. Here are some of them.

Even with use of conversion kits, there will be deleterious effects on the motor/engine. Initially imperceptible, it will accumulate over time and use, cutting the effective life of the vehicle. This will probably be no problem for those who are wont to buy their vehicles brand-new and then dispose of them before maintenance costs start creeping in.

The Japanese official however pointed out that, in the Philippines, there is a high volume of trading in second-hand vehicles. This is highly indicative that those in the upper-lower and lower-middle levels of our socio-economic structure who find owning a vehicle a necessity or finally affordable, will be handicapped. Useful economic life of their second-hand vehicles will have been shortened or otherwise more expensive to maintain and with very much reduced trade-in value towards a replacement.

The bio substitutes/supplements fuel additives come from various sources, e.g., sugar, coconut, etc., with each country into such programs having varied minimum acceptable standards. Certain engine parts therefore have to be fabricated for each type/class. There will have to be as many models as the variances acceptable to each particular country.

Hence, you will eventually see a car manufacturer coming up with, say, 10,000 units of Model "1" for Country "A" which has adopted a three percent ethanol program, and 5,000 units of Model "2" for Country "B" which is on five percent ethanol acceptance. Units that have not been sold will just have to remain as inventory in each country and cannot be re-shipped to another country. Economy of scale will have been lost. All these will certainly translate into higher costs per vehicle unit as well as for spare parts.

I guess those are issues that must be addressed before Congress makes it mandatory to use ethanol with gasoline in any proportion.

Pick up line

Norbert Goldie sent in this one.

An elderly gentleman, very well dressed, hair well groomed, great looking suit, flower in his lapel smelling slightly of a good after-shave, presenting a well looked-after image, walks into a cocktail lounge in a retirement community.

Seated at the bar is an elderly lady.

The gentleman walks over, sits alongside of her, orders a drink, takes a sip, turns to her and says, "So tell me, do I come here often?"

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]