“The study is called The Next Normal because there are so many things that we found in this study that are no longer the ‘New Normal’ but the ‘Next Normal’. One of them is the fact that being tech-savvy is normal to Millenials, therefore it’s the ‘Next Normal,’” explains Kurz.
“The study came out of a number of conversations I had with the U.S. domestic team and around the same time, we also attended a conference and it was about Millennials and every other question from the audience was ‘so how does this play in the rest of the world?’ Nobody in the room had an answer to it. So we thought ‘there is clearly a need for this research, not just for us internally but there is a bigger need.’”
Below are the findings for the four Asian countries surveyed: China, India, Japan and Singapore.
World events shaping their lives
Globally, the study found that the economy is the number one factor impacting the Millennial generation today, with 68% feeling personally touched by the global economic crisis. This percentage increases in countries like Spain (86%), Italy (85%), and Greece (80%), where the economy has been hardest hit in recent years.
Similar to the global findings, the global economic crash is also the number one event impacting Singaporean and Chinese Millennials, while not surprisingly, Japanese respondents named the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster as a top event.
The September 11 terrorist attack also rated highly as one of the top global events with a lasting impact on Millennials throughout the world.
What is surprising, Kurz says, is the significance of the 2011 Norway terrorist attacks of the summer camp organised by the AUF in which 69 people died. It rated only four percentage points below the September 11 attacks.
Happy despite concerns
Surprisingly, despite the Millennial generation citing the economy, terrorism and natural disasters as events that shaped their lives, three quarters of Millennials globally still consider themselves to be happy.
“Because of all of the things that have happened in the world; you would logically expect happiness to go down but this study has really completely proved it wrong. So it really shows the strength of this millennial generation and how it sustains that positivity,” says Kurz.
So how did the study define happiness? Kurz explains that it was left up the respondents’ own interpretations. “Happiness is in the eyes of the beholder. What we do is we ask them: ‘On a scale of 1 – 10, how happy are you?’”
In Asia, India was the fifth most happy among global respondents, while China sat closer to the overall average of 76% – countries who ranked their happiness greater than 7 on a scale of 1 – 10. Singapore and Japan sat lowest, with only 68% and 55% respectively grading themselves higher on the scale.
For Millennials, having a good relationship; spending time with friends and family; going on holiday; having fun and relaxing; and being successful, are the key drivers of happiness.
“Interestingly enough, in Japan, friends are more important than family but everywhere else it’s family. But this shows how globally, the importance of family is coming through really strongly and that really drives happiness.”
Kurz says another factor that contributes to happiness is success.
“And you look at how success is defined (by the respondents) – the number one is being happy; and the number two is spending time with your family. So you really see this triangle of ‘happiness makes you successful -> being successful makes you happy -> and the people around your life really underpin both of those factors really strongly.’”
The study says that 73% of global respondents claim “being happy” as a first key factor in defining success, followed by “being part of a loving family”, and “having a job you enjoy”. However in Asia, the third factor is superseded by “being rich”.
Stress levels
The demands of education and having a successful career can lead to a considerable amount of stress for Asian youths. China, Japan and Singapore were among the top six “most stressed” countries.
For Singaporeans, the top three things that stressed them are losing their mobile phones, not doing well in school or work, and not living up to their full potential. China tops the list as the most stressed country in the world. Kurz says China tops this chart because of educational and societal pressure, and the rapid changes that have occurred over the last decade.
Fifty-six percent of Singaporeans and 49% of Chinese respondents also think “life would be better if I lived in another country”, whereas only 23% of Japanese feel the same way. Nevertheless, Asian Millennials are consistent with the global average of 83% of interviewees who agree that they are proud to be where they are from, with 76% believing that maintaining local traditions is becoming more important.
Tech-savvy
Japanese have a slight lead over their global counterparts in this department, with 7 in 10 claiming that they would not want to live without a desktop PC or laptop. Four in 10 Singaporeans think they’re more tech-savvy than anyone else.
When it comes to their digital lives, Asian Millennials are definitely ahead of the global averages. Among Singaporeans, 95.7% have an email account, 83.8% use instant messaging, 91.4% have a social media account while 81.3% say the smartphone is their favourite device.
“No wonder losing their phones causes so much stress,” says Kurz.
Technology doesn’t define them, it enables
Kurz says rather than defining the Millennial generation, technology is more of an enabler.
“If you ask a Millennial, they would probably tell you that ‘technology doesn’t make me who I am, it lets me be who I am.’ You translate that into the social media world, they would say: ‘I don’t have Facebook friends. I have friends and Facebook makes it easier for me to stay in touch with my friends,’” explains Kurz.
Technology underpins relationships and plays an important role in sustaining happiness and broadening horizons. Three quarters of Millennials globally believe social media has a beneficial effect on relationships and 73% say access to the internet changes the way they think about the world.
Future studies
Kurz says there are many questions not yet covered in this research, but the team is already working on including them in future studies. “We’re already in the field with two big pieces that are coming out of this. One of them is to look a lot more into social media, what it does and how it works. Another piece is about non-linear video consumption and how all of that works.”
Overall in this study, the experience for Asian Millennials is in line with that of the Millennial experience worldwide. For example, Millennials in other parts of the world describe themselves as “tolerant”, “authentic”, “curious about the world”, “positive” and “flexible” – terms Asian Millennials also used to describe themselves. But there are some slight differences; Asian respondents also added “stressed” and “tech savvy” to their list.
“What The Next Normal does,” explains Kurz, “is it reconfirms a lot of the things we’ve seen emerge through various other smaller pieces and it really brings it all together. The most interesting thing to us is despite the fact that the world has changed so much over the last few years, the Millenials are still a relatively cohesive generation of incredibly positive and forward-looking people.”
About The Next Normal
The global quantitative survey was conducted in June/July 2012 with a sample size of 11,328 respondents. The study interviewed Millennials aged from 9 – 30 from 24 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.
“The Next Normal is the broadest single study of the Millennial generation to date,” said Colleen Fahey Rush, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer, Viacom Media Networks. “It is a truly detailed understanding of this complex generation from all corners of the world, and is without a doubt the definitive guide to this demographic’s evolution. These insights will help inform our content and further strengthen our connections with Millennial audiences around the globe.”
The primary research undertaken for The Next Normal was enhanced by additional analysis based on 3,400 Millennials and 665 parents of Millennials in the U.S. In addition, the study was able to draw on qualitative explorations including content analysis, focus groups, online QualBoard discussions and interviews with generational experts.
Fieldwork and data processing was carried out by GFK NOP MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT with IPSOS providing fieldwork support in Saudi Arabia. Study design, analysis and reporting were directed by JO MCILVENNA LTD.
