Digital Korea : Chapter 2, Digital Youth
Digital Korea : Chapter 2, Digital Youth
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  • 승인 2007.11.05 13:09
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For the first time in mankind's history a new Community generation (Gen- C) is growing up with permanent, 24-hour support of friends, colleagues and community. The umbilical cord or the "lifeline" is the cellphone and the secretive cryptic connection method is SMS text messaging. It is not the only way they connect, in fact, the youth of today is inherently multitasking on multiple platforms from videogames to social networking sites to blogging and instant messaging. Nevertheless, one form of communication reigns supreme, and that is SMS text messaging.

Nowhere on the planet is the appeal of SMS text messaging more visible than in South Korea. According to the Korea Times of 9 February 2006, already a third of South Korean students send 100 text messages every day. For comparison, the world average is just over one SMS per day and in most markets, a level of ten SMS text messages sent per day is considered heavy usage.

Generation-C is the first generation to live with the friends "in their pocket" -- instantly available at all times. Again, it is important to highlight how different this is from any other communications. It is not the same if the friends are there to support you on an online community like an instant messaging system, or in a chat room. Nor is it the same as friends who are available via e-mail or who can be called at home via a fixed wire line telephone. The reality of any other form of contact is that it is not "always." The change in behavior that arises with Gen-C is that at any time in life, you can contact your friends via SMS text messaging: and they will be there.

SMS is preferred

SMS is the preferred means to connect for the youth, and "of course" it is ok to send a message to your friend while talking to someone else, like your parents, your teachers or your work colleagues. This is radical change in behavior. Generation-Community will consult with the mates on the cellphone before and during consumer decisions, such as deciding which bar, club, disco or pub to go to tonight, or while in an electronics store, a member of Gen-C will consult with the electronics "guru" friend about some new product that is on sale. This generation is accustomed to "always on" living experiences. Texting supports the need to be creative, to have entertainment -- jokes -- during the day.

Where adults may think 160 characters to be terribly limiting, teenagers will find it funny to fit humorous, private and cryptic communication into the message. (Incidentally, the above paragraph is exactly 160 characters in length, the limit of a standard SMS text message). SMS is ultimate youth communication, fast, no grammar, limited characters and secretive. Yet it is used to create love notes, poetry and jokes.

SMS vs. email

Most of all, where they have access to both, young users in study after study confirm the same conclusion -- even though email is free and SMS text messaging costs, all young users prefer text messaging on SMS over e-mail. Korean young adults put it so well -- email is outdated, it is not used between friends, and not between colleagues.

Mobile is the favorite toy

The cellphone is the most critical toy and tool for youth of today. Yes, they may love their iPods and Playstation Portables, and spend countless hours on their laptop and on the web in chat rooms and using IM, but if forced to select only one, increasingly the tool of choice is the cellphone.

Again, this is a universal trend. In South Korea, teenagers will replace phones every eleven months according to the latest figures by NIDA; the global average replacement cycle is almost twice that at 18 months. That helps show how strongly South Korean youth value their cellphones. As increasingly kids all around the world have phones as their toys, they are now used in playing. Then as kids grow up, they become a part of flirting, dating etc.

Will not speak on family wire line phone

Another change in the behavior of the current generation and its predecessors is the use of a fixed landline at home. As soon as teenagers got their own cellphones in all countries, they follow the same pattern. They won't answer the family fixed wire line phone -- after all, any close friends will have the cellphone number, so a call to the fixed landline phone will "not be for me".

Taking the phone to bed with you

The global survey by BDDO in April 2005 revealed that 60% of cellphone users worldwide take the cellphone to bed with them. Physically to bed! In addition, the Spring 2006 survey by Nokia found that 72% of us use the phone as our alarm clock. Nearly three out of four people sleep with the phone within arm's reach -- that is how intense our relationship has become with the cellphone. Practically all teenagers take their phones to bed of course. They will not be calling their mates, but for the next hour or two, they still send SMS text messages with the phone on silent.

Camera phones

Teenagers today never knew of filmbased cameras. To them cameras were always digital. In 2001 Japan's third wireless carrier, JPhone (since Vodafone KK and now Softbank) experimented with the first integrated camera into a phone. What the camera industry -- also based in Japan -- laughed at back then, rapidly spread and today over half of all phones in the world have cameras. In South Korea, for example all phones sold have cameras.

What phone one has, what covers on the phone, what ringing tone, what games, screen savers, etc., will all help the youth communicate with peers and others a sense of who that person wants to be.

Natural born gamers

What makes Gen-C so potent in South Korea is that they are so intimately familiar with the virtual worlds of multiplayer gaming. The world's largest Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is Lineage II of South Korea with twice the registered users worldwide than its nearest "Western" and better-known rival, World of Warcraft. In addition, of casual gaming, 25% of all South Koreans have played the same online videogame (Kart Rider).

Born to share and generate own content

Gen-C is also very used to sharing, especially using various peer-to-peer networks and social networking sites. In South Korea, of course, practically all teenagers will have profiles and regularly visit friends inside Cyworld.

Gen-C is used to creating its own content using various digital means, both by sampling and copying from existing sources, and using the wide range of digital cameras, scanners, built-in microphones, etc.

My phone my money

For the Gen-C, the first financial instrument is not the credit card, a checking account or a debit card with a bank. It is the cellphone. This generation assumes it can pay for anything with the cellphone. In fact, where the phone account is a "postpay" or contract account, it is usually the first tool of credit that Gen-C is exposed to. They may make a hamburger payment on the cellphone simply because their cash is low, and they know the phone bill will not become due until the end of the month.

Cool is digital cool

South Korea may seem distant to Western readers, but within Asia, South Korea has rapidly gained a status of being cool. In Asia, the concept "cool" is almost synonymous with "digital cool." In China, Japan, Malaysia, etc. South Korean popular culture from clothing fashions to hairdressing shops to pop music artists to soap operas is driving fashions and trends of what is cool in Asia.

The Asian countries value South

Korean leadership very highly; Korean brands and concepts have expanded strongly and are now copied locally. Known as the Hallyu . the Korean "wave" of pop music, fashion and culture all add to cool Korea Youth culture.

Pioneering users

The changes in behavior we see in the youth of today, as they relate to high technology, will migrate with them as they grow up, get their first jobs, and bring this behavior to the workplace. This distinct form of behavior is radically different from that of their elders and the most empowering technology to them is their cellphone.

How radically will that behavior alter the workplace and general commerce, media, government, etc. when this generation graduates from college and starts to work is going to be interesting. This chapter is a look into the soul of the consumer of tomorrow - and as far as we've found so far, all of the relevant research, specifically highlights the advances of youth in South Korea.


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