The distinct mindset of the digital native was captured in a recent presentation by Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the top venture-capital firms in Silicon Valley.
Dubbing digital natives the “asset-light” generations, Meeker notes that young people don’t want to own CDs, haul around books, buy cars, carry cash, do their own chores, or be committed to a full-time job. Instead, they use their smartphones to buy, borrow, or steal media; rent shared cars at home and book shared rooms when they travel; hire people to buy groceries or cut the grass; and use apps from Starbucks and Target to pay for lattes and redeem coupons. Many of the digital natives even prefer short-term gigs that allow them to arrange their work around their life, rather than arrange their life around their work.
For sure the upcoming generation of news and media consumers think differently about what’s important in their lives, what they value. The same could be said for most generations, but this one is certainly becoming distinctive. Yet this research that somehow shows the main reason younger folks don’t like newspapers is because they don’t like the ideas of piles of papers in their home? Something fails the gut check there. The same as the conclusion that they don’t want full-time jobs. Doesn’t jive with reality. Feels like the data was collected, categorized, analyzed and PowerPointized by someone in his or her 50s.
