After reading the Morgan Stanley report written by a 15 year old about how teenagers consume the media, I found that it is actually quite accurate. However, its not exactly right but this may be due to the shift in media and ways it is consumed from when the article was written in July 2009 to now in 2011.
In the report, the teenager addressed each way of consuming media and relates it to what he believes most teenagers do and don’t like. In the report, it talks about the radio and says that ‘most teenagers are not regular listeners’. He goes on to say that the most common reason a teenager would listen to the radio would be for the music, and usually when they are doing something else, for example travelling in a car. I believe that still today this is true as well as what he says about teens hating adverts. Whether its advert on the radio or the television, lots of teenagers find the frequent adverts annoying and I certainly do. Because of this, the report says that many teenagers chose to stream music free online instead. However, this isn’t true for me as I find that turning on the radio while I’m busy doing something else is a lot quicker and simpler than going online, finding a website and then playing it from there. Though I do know people my age who do prefer to stream music from the Internet as it allows them to choose what music is played. Therefore on this I think that whether teenagers choose to listen to music on the radio or online it is due to their personal preference.
Adverts are also a problem when watching television, and in the Morgan Stanley report, the teenagers says that this has resulted in the rising popularity of watching shows online on websites such as 4OD and BBC iPlayer since there is no/fewer adverts. Sky + and Virgin allow people to record shows and then watch them later, hence skipping the adverts. For me this is the preferred way of watching television, unless it is a show such as X Factor where I like to watch it live. Watching TV online is popular among some young people as the report suggests, however I prefer to watch programs on a bigger screen than my laptop and so rarely use this way of consuming media.
Morgan Stanley’s report also says that how much television teenager’s watch depends on the time of year, which is also true to me. I would watch a lot more television when shows such as Waterloo Road and Gossip Girl are on but as soon as the seasons ends then I watch less TV. This is linked to another idea that the teen could have included that teenagers know what they want to watch and tune in to the certain channel at the right time, rather than skipping through channels to see what’s on. Like what the report says, teenagers don’t have the time to do this.
The section on newspapers is defiantly true to me as I would only read an article if it was summarized on a website. Again not all teenagers are the same and some do read the morning paper while eating breakfast. Directories are again another thing that teenagers don’t use.
Another idea that comes across through the article is that teenagers what the media, they just don’t want to pay for it. I think that this is true as many teenagers download films and music free from the Internet or use YouTube, rather than buying them legally. However the article says that only teens from higher income families listen to music on an iPod, though I think that now, the iPod has become so popular that even less well of families have one. Also teenagers do like to download films on the Internet, this hasn’t caused the cinema to go into decline because as the report says, the cinema is about ‘the experience’ and being with your friends. This is very true and I often go to the cinema at least once a month.
In the report under the mobile phone section, the 15 year old said that Sony Ericsson phone are ‘superior’. Although this may have been the case at the time of the article, now iPhone are seen as the superior phone and along with BlackBerrys it seems that they are the most popular. A reason for this could be because using BBM and apps such as WhatsApp and Ping mean that teenagers can communicate for free, without the cost of texting. The report also says that most people are under Pay As You Go, and although I am also, many teens are now using contract, but this cold be dependent on the area they live and wealth.
In the gaming section it is stated that the most common console is the Wii, however now I think that the PlayStation or Xbox are more popular. But it is true that PC gaming is no longer used by teenagers as it used to be before the consoles were around. I personally do not play games on any of these consoles, but many teenagers, particularly boy, play them frequently
