"Tech Fast Forward" group optimistic about technology's role in their children's future
A new study from marketing firm Ogilvy & Mathers and online communities company Communispace finds U.S. familes that embrace technology have a more optimistic outlook on life today and for their children’s future.
“We are not claiming cause and effect, but we saw that the more families embraced technology, the more they embraced life in general and the more positive they were about our future,” the researchers said.
The surveyors reached out to 1,200 parents and then zoomed in with more qualitative analysis based on discussions with 112 “Tech Fast Forward” families — those that really embrace technology. About 40% of those surveyed were defined as “tech backwards” or “tech neutral.” (The companies behind the survey note that the Tech Fast Forward segment of those surveyed is well represented across economic lines, though say the Tech Fast Forward is twice as likely to make more than $150K a year than the general population. Strikes me that there’s more correlation than the survey reveals between a family’s affluence and its optimism about technology — just because they can afford to shell out big bucks for everything from tablet computers to fancy GPS products, etc.)
Most of the total sample and the Tech Fast Forward viewed technology as a positive force on their lives, though nearly twice as many of the tech neutral respondents said they felt technology could break society as opposed to make it. The Tech Fast Forward also feel as though their children’s generation will make the world a better place and save the planet whereas the less enthusiastic Tech Forward and Tech Neutral did not.
Some 80% of the Tech Fast Forward said they thought technology makes families closer vs. 72% of the total sample. The Tech Fast Forward also see technology in a broad sense improving communications across wide distances. The Tech Fast Forward also sees a positive impact on creativity, with 77% saying it enhances creativity vs. 66% of the overall survey respondents saying so.
Something the Tech Fast Forward and the overall group agree on: technology is simplifying our lives.
The Tech Fast Forward are a little less entralled about whether technology brings out our best behavior in a world where life is one big stage. Only 59% think it does, vs. 47% among the entire survey population.
Still, the researchers see lots of promise for companies and organizations to capitalize on the overall optimism of early tech adopters and embracers by accentuating the good that their clients and their clients’ customers are doing.
