A survey of 19 to 26-year-olds, conducted in
China, Singapore, and the U.S., has found that over half of young adults are
unable to keep up with their social media commitments.
The
growing social media obligations faced by young adults across the world are
starting to wear them down.
A
survey of 19 to 26-year-olds, conducted in China, Singapore, and the U.S. by
JWT Singapore, found that over 50 percent of young adults find it too time
consuming to keep up with all their social media commitments, and concede the
time they spend on social networking sites (SNS) has had a negative impact on
their job or studies.
Nearly
half feel more stressed by their social media commitments now compared to a
year ago – and say that managing these commitments has become a chore.
Asian
youth are particularly wired – and weary. Young adults in Singapore are more
inclined to visit social networking sites while out and about, compared to
their peers in the U.S. and China.
Singaporeans
also receive the most notifications, with more than half receiving them every
couple of hours or so. The response speed to Twitter and Facebook is also
highest in Singapore.
Young
adults in China, meanwhile, are the most stressed out: 68 percent feel
obligated to ‘like‘ their friends photos and updates, 66 percent find it
social media obligations too time consuming, and 57 percent feel more stressed
out now than a year before.
“Young
adults are super wired, and that’s created an ever-present social obligation
that’s starting to wear them down. They feel they have to look at and ‘like’
their friends’ photos and status updates to keep up and show they care,” said
Angus Fraser, Managing Director of JWT Singapore.
So JWT
Singapore and Nestle created the KIT KAT Social Break Widget,
a nifty widget that automatically ‘likes’ photos their friends have tagged them
in on Facebook, auto-shares articles that friends have posted on LinkedIn, and
tweets back short, quick responses to messages they’ve been tagged in on
Twitter.
Indeed,
social networking is intruding into every facet of young adult’s lives. Over 45
percent of young Singaporeans do so during lectures and class; and 14 percent
of young adults in China say they tap away during meetings, according to JWT
Singapore’s survey.
There’s
no time or place that’s sacrosanct: a notable number of respondents in all
three countries say they visit social media sites while on dates (13%), while
in bed with their partner (11%), and during intimate moments (7%).
All
that social networking is taking a toll on their work and personal lives. Over
40 percent of all respondents say the amount of time they spend on social media
has led to conflict with family, friends, or their significant others.
Young
working adults across all three countries feel higher levels of SNS stress than
those who are still studying. A notable 57 percent of employed respondents said
they sometimes feel jealous of other people on social media sites – and 55
percent sometimes feel bad about themselves after taking a glimpse of other
people’s lives via social media.
For
many, opting out is not optional. Over half say they feel obligated to to
‘like’ or comment on their friends’ photos and status updates, and feel guilty
if they don’t.
Young
adults also carefully manage how they portray themselves online. Americans feel
their profiles are most realistic, while Chinese are more likely to use social
networking to upgrade their image: 67 percent of Chinese said they look more
attractive in their social media profile picture than they do in real life,
compared to 35 percent in the U.S. and 53 percent in Singapore.
Employed
Chinese social media users are the most stressed, the survey found, sharply
higher than their working counterparts in the U.S. and Singapore. 65 percent of
employed Chinese respondents feel pressure to be in constant contact on social media,
62 percent feel pressure to appear witty on social media, and 58 percent say
their social media obligations are a source of stress.
“Small
wonder. Social media lays a person’s professional and personal accomplishments
bare for all to see,” said Valerie Cheng, JWT Singapore’s Executive Creative
Director, who led the team that created the widget.
The
survey was conducted from February 1 and February 8, 2012, by JWT Singapore
using SONAR, JWT’s proprietary online research tool.
A total
of 900 young adults, aged 18 to 26, including 300 from China, 300 from
Singapore, and 300 from the U.S. were surveyed. Half the sample was employed
and half were students.
Source: JWT
Singapore.
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