Millennials are not lazy, as some would have us believe. Young people today aim to be superhumans. Alive to digital innovation and the explosion of a visual language, young people want to improve, and they want to do it quickly. Of the 2000 young people (16-24) who took part in Voxburner’s Youth Trends 2017 survey, 45% consider themselves ‘overachievers.’ 

Unlike previous generations of young people, youth is no time to be carefree; between messaging platforms, websites, streaming services, and the ability to learn and improve at any time, young people today are busier than ever. Here are some of the youth trends of the coming year.

Superhumans – Self-improvement is on the top of 16-24s’ to-do list as they partake in activities that aid in a dedicated process of becoming the best version of themselves possible. From our survey of over 2,000 UK 16-24s, 45% agree they’re an ‘overachiever,’ while 84% feel it important to continuously improve themselves and learn new skills.

Pleasure Principles – How do UK 16-24s get their kicks? Are young people no longer partying the way previous generations at their ages did? Our survey revealed 79% of 16-24s prefer to stay in and watch series than go out clubbing. However their socializing habits aren’t necessarily unsociable, they’re simply veering into a new realm.

9 youth trends you need to know about young people

• POLITE ACTIVISM

Online activism enables this group to rally for their strong ideals in a quieter way that suits them just fine.                                                                                                                                                                                               

• 74% agree that online activism is as important as traditional activism and that it makes the same amount of impact if not more.
• 52% have shared articles/their opinions on social media to show their backing to a social issue/cause.

• TRADITIONAL VALUES

Although they’re more connected and digitally focused than ever, 16-24s are increasingly appreciating and embracing traditional values.                                      

• Getting married (57%), having children (58%) and home ownership (54%), while taking the traditional route of going to school, college and university (71%) are the most important milestones of today.
• Only 24% of 16-24s feel that Tinder-like dating has a place in today’s society.

• IDENTITY

Young people today are constructing their own identities more than ever before and conventional boundaries no longer apply.

• Almost all (94%) of respondents feel it’s important to have a unique identity.
• 75% say they don’t care about age, sexuality, gender, race, religion, income etc. when it comes to the friends they have.
• In a recent YouGov survey, 49% of 18-24 year olds defined themselves as something other than totally heterosexual.

• DIGITAL INNOVATIONS

Similarly to last year, click and collect services (61%) and image/facial recognition (33%) are most popular.

• The iPhone 6S was classed as the most over-hyped digital innovation from 2015 by 50% of 16-24s.
• VR was the favorite digital innovation of 21% of 16-24s. The VR industry is expected to grow to $5.2bn by 2018.

• WE WANT IT NOW

16-24s have a natural expectation that everything is available right now.

• 70% of 16-24s describe themselves as impatient
• In the last month, 68% have used an online TV streaming service, 67% have used a take-away delivery service and 66% have used Click and Collect services.
• Emojis have even made communication more instant; 72% of 18-25s say they find it easier to express emotion through emojis than written word.

• SMALL WORLD

Social media allows young people to connect with strangers from all over the world and is sparking genuine global relationships amongst youth audiences.

• 52% of 16-24s would describe themselves as a global citizen
• 89% agree social media enables a more globally connected world.
• The majority of young people are happy for brands to create content and campaigns to enable international change. 16-24s feels fashion brands (66%), tech brands (56%), mega brands (Google, Apple etc.) (79%) and media brands (63%) should involve themselves in actively backing a cause.

• KNOWLEDGEABLE CONTENT

It’s deemed cool to be knowledgeable and young people are engaging in learning for entertainment purposes.

• Being knowledgeable is important to a huge 80% of 16-24s
• Facebook page “I Fucking Love Science” now has over 20 million fans, while NASA boasts 7.3m followers on Instagram. National Geographic has 38.8m followers on Instagram.
• Music (57%) is the top subject the youth segment enjoy reading about, but science (48%), current affairs (50%) and technology (43%) also feature highly.

• CONTENT CURATOR SHIFT

Brands are actively seeking out YouTubers, vloggers and creative individuals with an online cult fan base to represent their brand.

• For young pople, marketing content that involves famous faces no longer resonates. 81% of 16-24s relate to brand campaigns more if they use ‘real’ people as opposed to celebrities or models.
• “Millennials trust people over brands” (BazaarVoice)
• 57% of 16-24s say they don’t care and choose to ignore it if a vlogger, Instagrammer or blogger has been paid for a post to reference a certain brand of product.

• DIGITAL EXTREMES                                                                                    

It’s fair to say the youth sector are increasingly living in temporary extremes, abstaining from content one minute and indulging the next.

• 20% own up to being serial binge watchers; 66% binge watch when they feel like it.
• 44% dedicate between 1 and 5 hours to digital downtime per week. 72% deliberately spend at least some time without technology.
• 65% agree “I wish I spent less time looking at screens”.
• 45% agree “my phone is too much of a distraction to what is happening in real life”.

DISCUSSION

• POLITE ACTIVISM

1. a) Do you agree that online activism is as important as traditional activism?
2. b) Which cause would you get involved with and why? ( Eg.:political, environmental, social or religious activism)                                                                
3. c) Do you think it’s important to share your ideas and opinions in social networks? Do you do that?  If so, when? If not, why not?

• TRADITIONAL VALUES

1. Do you agree that traditional values like getting married, having children, owning a home and going to the university are important values to your generation? Why?
2. What do you think about the new dating systems like Tinder?Would  you ever use it?
3. What kind of people use this kind of dating system?

• IDENTITY

Say whether you agree (A),  disagree (D) or partially agree (PA):

(   ) Young people today don’t care about other people’s opinions and try to be themselves.

(   ) It’s good to have friends who are different from you.

(   ) It’s better to have friends who share the same tastes and interests.

(   ) It doesn’t matter the age, sexuality, gender, race, religion, income of real friends.

(   ) Conventional boundaries prevent people from being themselves.

• Digital Innovattions

1. a) What are the best and the most useful inventions of the mankind in the 20th and 21st centuries?
2. b) How did the invention of television change people’s life?
3. c) When did you buy or get your first mobile phone?
4. d) Do you think you can live without your mobile or is it now an important part of your daily life?
5. e) Are you anxious when the battery is flat or you are out of reach?
6. f) How did the internet influence such things as communication, correspondence, access to information?
7. g) Do you think that the internet is the good or the evil?
8. h) Can you name some inventions are you looking forward to? (human cloning, time traveling, eternal-life-pill, aids/cancer vaccine, teleportation)

• WE WANT IT NOW

1. a) Why are Millennials so impatient?
2. b) Why are young people so intolerant to frustration?
3. c) What causes anxiety to these people?
4. d) Why is it hard to them to express their feelings through written words?
5. e) How often do you express yourself through emojis? Why do you do it?

• SMALL WORLD

1. a) What makes the world a global village?
2. b) What makes people become global citizens?
3. c) Do you consider yourself a world citizen? Why?

• KNOWLEDGEABLE CONTENT

1. a) Do you think kids today know more than any other generation?
2. b) Dou you believe this generation is an upgrade of human race?
3. c) How important is knowledge to young people? Why?

Rank the subjects according to your interest:

(   ) Science fiction (   ) technology              ( ) natural sciences

(   ) Maths (   ) fashion (   ) celebrities

(   ) current affairs (   ) politics (   ) philosophy

(   ) religion (   ) networking               ( ) school/profession

• MARKETING

1. a) Would you like to be a youtuber? Why? (not)?
2. b) Is there any youtuber, vlogger, etc you follow? Why?
3. c) Do you think these people really are opinion formers? Why?
4. d) How do they influence young people?
5. e) Do publicity agencies take advantage of these famous teens icons? How?

• DIGITAL EXTREMES

For X against: young people waste their lives in front of the screen.

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Millennials: We Suck and We’re Sorry

Millennials… you’ve got us all wrong / Ian Abston / TEDxFargo