Urban youth – insights from a recent interaction.

By Rajesh on January 14, 2009

I recently interviewed my young niece, a typical urban teenager. These are some insight I was able to draw:

  1. Spends 30 mins on the Internet each day.
  2. Facebook rules; game has shifted from Orkut – why? Orkut is ‘local’.
  3. Gets Rs. 1000 as pocket money/ month; buys own Metro tickets.
  4. But mom recharges the mobile (yes, every teenager has a mobile of own).
  5. Her phone is her phone, only see sees her messages.
  6. Given that messages cost the same as a call, both share equal proportion of spends.
  7. Café Coffee Day is favourite hang-out place; Mocha is cool; Pizza Hut is visited often.
  8. Visits to these places take place as a group – boys and girls go together.
  9. Boys mostly have cars.
  10. Cars are often pooled, as its more fun that way.
  11. Most girls have boyfriends.
  12. Career is primary focus, lots of time is spent studying.
  13. While she is in school, there are 3-4 day coaching classes to prepare for admission into MBBS.
  14. Travels over 20 kms in Metro to attend these.
  15. Music is on Ipod, some on the mobile too, but Ipod is preferred as it’s a focused device.
  16. Shahrukh’s Don is the only Don she knows; THIS is the original – she hasn’t seen the one starring Amitabh and therefore doesn’t matter.
  17. Hrithik looks good, Shahrukh is ok, so is Amitabh, so is Salman.
  18. Deepika Padukone looks desi, Priyanka Chopra is cool, Rani acts well.
  19. Look conscious – eats very carefully – wants fat-free curd.
  20. Family is still very-very important.
  21. Parents are parents, but sense of ‘fear’ that earlier generations faced is gone.
  22. Corrects dad if feels doesn’t agree with attitude/ behavior.
  23. Mom is a friend.

She clearly knows her mind. Is this just my niece?
Urban teenagers are now clearly ‘people’ and not accessories to their parents. They have a life of their own, a mind too.
Careers are however still influenced by parents in big way – maybe because it is they who primarily fund it still?

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  • Manish
    Well, i agree with Mansi to an extent that the respect for elderly has been replaced with a tacital understanding. However, the study bug is a by-product of competitve world rather than on parents insistence.
    However, the interview is not an eye-opener. It is pretty much urban centric and does not properly reflect the attitude, thikning and views of agreater part of demography. Religious tolerance, Love vs money debate, feeling of patriotism, opinions on sexual liberation are few topics that are left out of this cool chat.
  • mansi kohli
    well..i pretty much intricately appreciate the way u pointed the fact of deepika padukone being desi and rani acting well..Thats 1 thing that today's youth very well understands.How could you miss tattos,pepsi,hair beading,i phone,VLCC'S visit as often as lamp psts on the road..while describing todays "youth".
    But yeah its not only because that the parents fund them with money that is why they want their beak poking desicional help in fixing there careers right! but also beacuse at the end of the day the very bug of career to most of the youth is been bitten by parents and their own parenting enviournment themselves which makes them a handy backsupport in accepting their nods rather them saying "NO".
  • sangeeta
    Ithink the discussion is about these following things
    A) have influncers increased
    B)have role of parents changed
    C)in short, do urban youth have more individual freedom.
    About (a), I think earlier because the world around an individual was small so influencers were limited, but now they are more. But what has not changed till date is the inability to make decisions based on the understanding of the underlying need the choice influnces. So I don't think anyone is more empowered today then before
    About (b), often discussions on the subject miss the point about context in identifying the role a parent relation plays. When we are young it is dependence, teens it is rebellion (because of self conflict) and later in life better understanding of parents as individuals
    About (c), I think Rajesh needs to continue the interview to find out why MBBS and what if the niece neither has the aptitude nor the inclintion for
    Sangeeta
  • Urban youth, what they want and how to get that.
    Agree with career focus, they have their priorities set and parents are always an important part of their life..
  • Rajesh the connecting thread for me between 21st Century parents/guardians/teachers who create 21st Century people and marketers who create markets is what the Cluetrain Manifesto refers to in Chapter 4 as "Markets are Conversations". This chapter is available to read online, for me, when markets are conversations, then we have stepped outside the "Cave of Marketing". At the same time I recognize what Sangeeta is saying also. M.
  • Syven - Your point is similar to Sangeeta's and honestly, both of you are correct.
    Unfortunately, such is the power of marketing and so irresponsible the conduct of 'all' of us as marketers that nothing is sacrosanct anymore - not even God - s/he is marketed too, heavily.
    Mass media penetration and influence similarly doesn't leave much scope for insulation.
    Thank you so much for the insightful comment, please keep writing.
    R
  • Sangeeta - thanks a lot for the comment.
    You are right, there are similarities - there was/ is pressure, earlier from parents and now from peer behavior.
    However, parental pressure didn't leave any options, but agree.
    Peer pressure might be a little different - still intense, technically doesn't need to be compulsorily adhered to though it is nearly impossible to do in reality. In that sense, in a set of things what you say is correct.
    Keep writing.
    Rajesh
  • Even with this snapshot we are still sitting inside a cave of marketing. The cave of marketing is my description of the how much our external environment influences our mind.
    If your niece has an open mind she will know that much of what is in her mind is the byproduct or influence of a commercial environment.
    This is not a condemnation of how we are marketed but a reality check that are minds are only really open if we gain the personal capacity to reach beyond the environment that fashions us and therefore we begin to understand the human condition as a totality.
    Such an ability for me represents the true meaning of intelligence. If she is a truly a child then the principal transformation depends on how the parent or guardian is sitting in their own cave of marketing; for to be guides to this environment so to make this freedom possible, we need to understand that marketing is but one condition of environment.
    Just like walking out of Plato's Cave, your niece truly represents a free spirit of the universe when such an awakening is a joyful coming of age.
    Rajesh, we are all sitting in a cave of one sort or another and the true mark of maturity is to first, visit other people's caves and so as parents and guardians, rather than marketers, such realization is IMHO the hallmark of a 21st Century parent.
    I is 21st Century parents that will create "people", for marketers can only create markets, and markets are useful economic flows, but still represent sitting inside Plato's Cave :-)
    M.
  • Sangeeta
    Urban youths
    Lets look at it a bit differently. I agree today youth have choices and make choices. But I still do wonder are they independent choices? For instance, earlier the choices were dictated by parents or elders and the young accepted them with the need to belong. Similarly today the choices are still dictated by the need to belong say to the happenings around. Have things really changed?
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