Home » Study: Gen Ys Would Happily Forgo Personal Hygiene (But Not Their Pets) For Their Mobiles

28 June, 2018

Study: Gen Ys Would Happily Forgo Personal Hygiene (But Not Their Pets) For Their Mobiles

In news that probably won’t come as a shock to many, yet another study into the tech habits of Gen Ys has found that 41 per cent of Millennials admitted they’d be willing to quit shampooing for a week if it meant keeping their mobiles for that same period of time.

The study, by US app-based phone service Visible, thankfully wasn’t all bad news for mobile phone addiction.

It found that 72 per cent of the 1000-plus respondents would give up their mobiles rather than forgo their pets, while in good news for halitosis, 83 per cent would give up their phones over before they’d stop brushing their teeth for a week.

Digital natives would also be willing to give up some of their favourite luxuries if it means holding onto their phone. Despite this generation’s coffee obsession, 77 percent would gladly give up caffeine for a week over their phone.

The attraction to TV and movie streaming services is much stronger, with phones narrowly winning out over Netflix for this generation’s heart. Some 54 per cent of respondents would rather give up movies and TV for one month than go without a phone for one week.

The majority of this generation has their own phone plan; consumers jumping from the family plan at an average age of 19. However, more than one-third (39 per cent) of this age group are still on their parents’ phone plan, and of those, 57 percent aren’t paying anything for it.

Furthermore, more than half (53 per cent) report having some level of financial support from family members on current expenses. The study found parents are willing to help out with phone bills for 30 per cent of those surveyed, and slightly more for the younger set, 37 per cent for those aged 18-29.

Data keeps them connected, and consumers are well aware that their favourite apps – Netflix (41 per cent), Snapchat (19 per cent), Instagram (18 per cent), and Spotify (10 per cent) – are the culprits of their high data use.

That’s why 74 per cent of the younger generation would prefer to pay a flat rate for unlimited data, texting, and calling over paying for exactly how much they use their phone.

As the meme universe knows, what we learned in school isn’t always useful when we’re #adulting. It’s not surprising, then, that only 22 per cent of respondents reported being very knowledgeable about their tax return, and even fewer (14 per cent) could say the same for their retirement plan.

Thankfully, understanding of a mobile phone plan was slightly higher among this generation at 40 per cent. But mobile plans do present a pain point for consumers, with complicated contracts (17 per cent) and long-term commitments (14 per cent) representing some of the top mobile phone annoyances among this generation. Younger consumers (18-29) found contracts more annoying than the older set (30-34) at 18 versus 13 per cent.

The study also found 77 per cent would rather use up their phone battery to chat to a loved one than for rideshare services (35 per cent), Spotify streaming (21 per cent), and social sharing (11 per cent) combined.

Other popular uses of phone battery included avoiding traffic via apps like Waze or Google Maps (44 per cent) and documenting experiences (42 per cent).

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Marketing to Millennials Visible