Gadget/Technology

Our Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets have changed the way we work, play, and even raise our children. Today’s offices would be unrecognizable to workers of the past thanks to the proliferation of emails, video conferencing, tablets, laptop computers, and other relatively recent innovations. Meanwhile, more and more of our personal time is influenced by our gadgets (OK, smartphones) with each passing day.

So have we reached peak-technology? Hardly.

The novelty of constant online connections and instant communication may have begun to wear thin for older generations, but the next wave of Americans have no such qualms. 

Their tech-dependent lifestyles are already causing huge changes in both the professional and private spheres. The change may be inevitable…unless the Wi-Fi cuts out, of course.

Our Digitized Professional Lives

As many as 79% of employees now “work on virtual teams,” be it by email, online collaboration, messaging, video conferences, or some combination of any of the above. A 2013 Pew Research study found “94% of jobholders are Internet users.” 

This includes full-time, part-time, and freelance workers in technology companies, big corporations, and small businesses, who work in cities, the suburbs, rural America, and everywhere in between.

For most of the last century, communicating professionally meant writing letters, sending faxes, or spending hours on the phone. Not anymore. 

Email is now the primary means of communication in the modern workplace. We are communicating more, faster, and better than ever before. 

And employers have been reaping the benefits. A major report cited by British newspaper The Telegraph found that the incorporation of technology into the workplace has led to an “84% increase in productivity per hour for office workers since the 1970s.” The major influencers? Email, business software, and yes, even cell phones.

Technology Gets Personal

We don’t leave technology in the workplace. In fact, our private lives might be even more tech-enabled than our professional lives.

In the 1980s and 1990s, our televisions were often the height of our home technology. Some people had clunky personal computers, a Nintendo for the kids, and maybe even a telephone in their car (remember those?).

Information from the Census Bureau tells us that 15% of homes had a personal computer in 1989; by 2011 that number climbed to 75%. Now we have desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Apple watches, GPS-enabled cars, and more coming every day. Forget unplugging after the 5 or-6 o’clock whistle blows—we plug in instead.

In fact, going without tech might trigger an existential crisis for some (that sound you hear is Albert Camus rolling over in his grave). Our technology helps us learn, date, eat, socialize, and so much more.

The only time we don’t use technology is when we are exercising flying sleeping, well, dead. For now…

A New Generation of Digital Natives

Anyone born before the advent of technology in their daily lives is considered a “digital immigrant.” Older generations invented our tech-enabled society, but the generations born in this millennium are the first true “digital natives.”

While the “digital rehab” programs older generations have begun using to push back against the all-consuming digital saturation are gaining traction, these programs may make as much sense to younger generations as getting up from the couch to change the channel on the TV. 

The genie is out of the bottle, and technology is said to have even changed the way younger generations perceive reality.

We’re assuming they perceive reality as that thing happening just beyond the horizon of their laptop, tablet, or smartphone screen (as long as someone is tweeting about it). Although it’s easy to make fun of the next generation’s digital obsession, it will soon be impossible to ignore it. The digital natives are on pace to outnumber the digital immigrants before long.

The Bottom Line

Technology is now so integrated into our lives that going without it can cause severe anxiety for some. It’s not hard to see why. Technology has taken over.

LET’S STOP FOCUSING ON SHINY GADGETS AND START USING TECH TO EMPOWER PEOPLE

Many devices have become popular across generations, with a majority now owning cell phones, laptops and desktop computers. Younger adults are leading the way in increased mobility, preferring laptops to desktops and using their cell phones for a variety of functions, including internet, email, music, games, and video.

Among the findings:

Cell phones are by far the most popular device among American adults, especially for adults under the age of 65. Some 85% of adults own cell phones overall. Taking pictures (done by 76% of cell owners) and text messaging (done by 72% of cell owners) are the two non-voice functions that are widely popular among all cell phone users.

Desktop computers are most popular with adults ages 35-65, with 69% of Gen X, 65% of Younger Boomers and 64% of Older Boomers owning these devices.

Millennials are the only generation that is more likely to own a laptop computer or netbook than a desktop:  70% own a laptop, compared with 57% who own a desktop.

In terms of generations, Millennials are by far the most likely group not only to own most of the devices we asked about, but also to take advantage of a wider range of functions. 

For instance, while cell phones have become ubiquitous in American households, most cell phone owners only use two of the main non-voice functions on their phones: taking pictures and text messaging.  Among Millennials, meanwhile, a majority use their phones also for going online, sending email, playing games, listening to music, and recording videos.

Background: Generations defined

This is part of a series of reports by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project exploring how different generations use technology (previous reports: 2010, 2009, 2006). All the generation labels used in these reports, with the exceptions of “Younger Boomers” and “Older Boomers,” are the names conventionalized by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book, Generations: 

The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069 (Perennial, 1992). The Pew Internet Project’s “Generations” reports make the distinction between Younger Boomers and Older Boomers because enough research has been done to suggest that the two decades of Baby Boomers are different enough to merit being divided into distinct generational groups.

The Pew Research Center recently published a series of reports that more closely examined the values, attitudes, and experiences of the Millennial generation.1 These reports are available in full at pewresearch.org/millennials. Many of these reports also compare this younger generation to older cohorts.

Cell phone ownership

When asked further about the presence of mobile phones in their households, one-third (33%) of those who do not own a cell phone live in a household with at least one working mobile phone. This means that overall, 90% of all adults—including 62% of those age 75 and older—live in a household with at least one working cell phone.

 A majority of Millennials use their phones for taking photos, texting, going online, sending email, playing games, listening to music, and recording videos—making them significantly more likely than any other generation to engage in all of these activities.

In fact, the only two activities that are widely popular for all cell phone owners are taking pictures and sending text messages. Taking pictures is the most popular function on Americans’ phones, with more than half of all cell phone owners under the age of 75 using their phones for this purpose (only 16% of adults age 75 and older take photos with their phones). Text messaging, though also widely adopted, is less popular with adults over age 56.

Desktop vs laptop over time

Millennials are the only generation that is more likely to own a laptop or netbook (70%) than a desktop computer (57%). While 69% of adults in Generation X own a desktop, a close 61% own a laptop. While roughly six in ten adults ages 47-65 own a desktop, only 49% of Younger Boomers and 43% of Older Boomers own a laptop.

Desktop vs laptop

Only 45% of adults over age 65 have a computer of any kind (40% of adults in that age group use the internet), and they are increasingly likely to use a desktop: 28% of adults age 75 and older use a desktop, and 10% use a laptop.4

Mp3 players

Almost half—47%—of adults own an iPod or another mp3 player. However, among the devices examined in this report, mp3 players saw the widest range in ownership rates between generations. While 74% of Millennials own an mp3 player, only 56% of members of Gen X do—and adoption rates continue to drop for each of the older generations. Only 3% of adults age 75 and older own this type of device.

Game consoles

Overall, 42% percent of all adults age 18 and older own a game console, and it is especially popular with members of the Millennial Generation and Generation X.  Sixty-three percent of all adults ages 18-46 own a game console like an Xbox or Play Station, as well as 38% of those ages 47-56. Ownership rates continue to drop off, to 19% of Older Boomers (ages 56-64), 8% of the Silent Generation (ages 66-74), and only 3% of the G.I. Generation (age 75 and older).

Game consoles

Additionally, as previously reported in “Americans and Their Gadgets,” parents with children living at home are nearly twice as likely as non-parents to own a game console—64% of parents own one,  vs 33% of non-parents.5

e-Book Readers and Tablet Computers

As of September 2010, 5% of American adults own an electronic book reader such as a Kindle or Sony Digital Book, up from 2% of adults the first time the question was asked in April 2009.

e-Book readers

Statistically, there is very little variation between the different generations, although the G.I. Generation is slightly less likely than younger generations to own such a device. Though age is not a strong predictor of e-book use, our previous “Gadgets” report noted that ownership is more likely among college graduates and those with relatively high household incomes.6

iPads and tablet computers

Though there have been several incarnations of tablet-like computers over the years,7 they had not gained widespread attention until Apple introduced the iPad in early 2010.8

As of September 2010, 4% of American adults own a tablet computer such as an iPad. Though education and household income are high predictors for owning a tablet computer, as with e-book readers, they are also more popular with adults age 56 and under (who are significantly more likely to own a tablet computer than adults age 66 and older).

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