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Study: 'digital natives' switch devices and platforms every two minutes, lack emotional engagement

Study: 'digital natives' switch devices and platforms every two minutes, lack emotional engagement

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A new study revealed by Time indicates that those who grew up with mobile tech are restless and emotionally detached consumers, switching between TVs, magazines, tablets, smartphones, or channels within platforms about 27 times an hour while experiencing "fewer highs and lows of emotional response."

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Digital native (SHUTTERSTOCK)
Digital native (SHUTTERSTOCK)

A new study revealed by Time indicates that those who grew up with mobile tech are restless and emotionally detached consumers, switching between TVs, magazines, tablets, smartphones, or channels within platforms about 27 times an hour while experiencing "fewer highs and lows of emotional response." The study says that these "digital natives" use media to "regulate their mood," and that as soon as they're bored or tired, they shift their attention elsewhere. And while a cursory glance at any vacuous, smartphone-equipped person might be enough to declare the findings plausible, Time's study appears to be more scientific: researchers used biometric monitoring and point of view video capture to monitor people's daily media consumption habits.

The study also says that these adept media navigators take their devices from room to room with them 65 percent of the time, that 54 percent of them prefer texting to talking, and that they subconsciously switch between platforms and can "pick up different pieces of a story from different mediums in any order." In contrast, the study reveals that 41 percent of "digital immigrants" (those who adopted technology later in life) carry their devices around, that only 28 percent of them prefer texting to talking, and that they are "intuitively linear." Time says that the findings could help content creators and marketers, and that if they want to hold the attention of digital natives, they'll need to grab them with "content they can snack on."