The video was produced by Paul McGregor of threebillion.com and aired on MTV Asia. The domain name “threebillion.com” refers to the number of people under the age of 25 (the site’s tagline is “Now that’s a lot of consumers”). It features 36 facts about youth, and a good number of them cover their use of technology. If you’re trying to chart your future tech course, it never hurts to see what the kids are up to.
Here’s the video. It’s not too long, and it’s pretty fascinating stuff:
For the benefit of the search engines and those who can’t watch the video, here are the facts that appear in the video:
There are 3 billion people under 25 on this planet
61% of them live in Asia
67% of young Asians have downloaded music in the last month
Only 27% paid for it
Hong Kong youth spend the most time online per day (4.7 hours)
Indonesian youth spend the least (0.9 hours)
Young Filipinos watch the most TV per day (6.2 hours)
Young Chinese watch the least (3.2 hours)
There are 37.5 million gamers in China
90% play online games
Weekly, Korean teenagers will spend
14 hours on the computer…
.12.8 hours watching TV
0.7 hours reading newspapers
Taiwan has the highest teenage birthrate in Asia
South Korea has the lowest
45% of young Japanese women said they were in love
Only 30% of young Japanese men said the same
82% of Japanese teen males said they used contraception the first time they had sex
Only 12% of Japanese 20-year-olds use the home PC to access the internet — the same level as 50-year-olds — they’re using their mobile phones instead
26% of all youth deaths in China are from suicide
In India, 50% of girls will be married before they are 18
In Nepal, the rate is 60%
85% of Korean teenagers own a cell phone
They send an average of 60 messages per day
46% of students send messages in class
“Our children are seriously addicted to cell phones” — Parent’s Union Spokesperson
Chinese people spend 10x more money on the internet than people in the west
It represents 10% of their monthly income
Who prefers a laid-back hassle-free lifestyle?
14% of Chinese teens
22% of South Korean teens
43% of Japanese teens
99% of Saudi teens use Bluetooth
99% said that the device had broken social taboos
85% said it was safe for communication with the opposite sex
69% of messages exchanged by Saudi teens were pornographic
Perhaps something is very wrong with my brain, but my first reaction to the graphic shown above — it’s for Energize IT, a free Microsoft developer event taking place in downtown Toronto on June 16th — was “Wow, bukkake. Microsoft can sure be edgy when they want to be.”
(If you’re unfamiliar with the term “bukkake”, you may wish to remain that way. Go ahead, Google it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.)
That being said, I’ll probably attend — there’s an XNA Game Studio Express track that interests me.
Jonathan Coulton’s Code Monkey was the catchy nerd-friendly rock tune of last year. This year, the crown could very well be johnnyOnline’sLove Two Point Oh, which features lyrics like:
You’re prettier than fine CSS
You’re finer than http://del.icio.us/
Verbotomy, the site that challenges its readers to create new words, has this as its current challenge: come up with a word for this definition:
DEFINITION:v. intr. To obsess over, and fantasize about electronic gadgets even though you can never figure out how they actually work. n. A beautiful but useless gadget.
My friend, Kat, asks that you vote for her submission, the word gearoused.
Good broadband — at least 1.5 megs, symmetrical to boot.
Both wired and wireless access in the room.
Lots of outlets. I’m very on-board with this one! I hate it when I find all the outlets in the room are already being monopolized by the TV, lamps and so on. There should be a couple of free outlets by the desk, as well as extra outlets for things like my phone and camera chargers.
Reading lights over the bed. Handy, but not so high a priority on my list. A bedside lamp would do me fine.
An in-room safe large enough to accomodate a laptop. I generally trust that my laptop won’t get yanked by the hotel staff, but I’d much rather be able to put it in the safe.
Relaxing and Inviting Lobbies and Bars with Outlets. Hear hear! Back when I was an indie consultant, I got a lot of programming work done at my local cafe, and still enjoy getting some laptop work done in a cafe, bar or lobby — as long as it was a nice and inviting one. Let’s face it, if the bar is either sterile or sad, I’d better be off working in my room.
I’ll give high marks to the Westin Boston Waterfront, home of the fall 2006 Ajax Experience, for its nice, comfy and inviting lobby/bar, with handy-dandy in-hotel Starbucks around the corner.
24 Hour Room Service WITH a 24 hour menu. A nice thing to have, but I think I might be able to live without it.
A Hot Restaurant With A Killer Chef. I like hot restos with killer chefs as much as the next sensualist, but isn’t that what checking out the city is for?
Seven Day A Week Laundry. I pack heavy, but I suppose it would be nice to have one.
Early Check-In. Yes! There are so many times that I’ve arrived in the morning or early afternoon, dying for a nap, only to be told that the room wouldn’t be available until 3 p.m..
A Fluffy and Warm Bathrobe. Not absolutely necessary, but I do take advantage of it whenever one’s available.
Flat Screen Wide Screen TV That’s 23″ or larger. Once you’ve been to a hotel room with one of these — once again, the Boston Westin Waterfront had these, and they were sweet! — there’s no going back.
A Larder. I’ve never been to a hotel with one of these, but it could be pretty handy.
High Quality Bottled Water. Perhaps. Vending machines full of Diet Coke are on my must-have list, but I’m trying to cut down, what with all those stories about it being neurotoxic and carcinogenic.
Soundproof windows. Street noise doesn’t generally bother me, but a little peace and quiet is nice to have.
