“With the ever increasing presence of technologies (increasingly mobile) and the popularity of web2.0 app’s & social networks (Facebook / Twitter / Youtube, Orkut etc), individuals are increasingly able and willing to observe and expose elements of their ‘private’ lives to those around them. This creates a range of practical and ethical issues about our identities and behaviours with implications to our virtual and real-world experiences. As they mature as digital citizens and with the migration between social networks, consumers are beginning to question and change their behaviours along with what they are willing to show, share and consume in the digital world.
These processes have important implications for employers, brands and organizations that are increasingly seeking seek to understand and enter into a digital dialogue with consumers, of all ages and social classes. Drawing on rich qualitative research with different consumer groups in both Brazil and the UK, TWRAmericas seek to open a debate drawn from a variety of insights into the emerging landscape of a ‘New Digital Morality’. As social networks continue to evolve within their own competitive marketplace we also seek to explore the differences in experience between the use of different web2.0 tools in different countries (primarily Facebook – UK & Orkut – Brazil)”

The report is somewhat akin to a soft ‘moral panic’ stating that young people who are kings of the digital age are costly to keep, pragmatic, lacking idealism and generally lost or confused in a world of endless choice, much of which is bought on by their being endlessly online. The internet and social media is in part blamed for young people’s lack of reflexivity and a ‘look at me’ culture, meanwhile the growth of social contacts via Orkut has fuelled increased party attendance and this is blmed for increased drinking and drug taking amongst Brazilians.The article however also seeks to criticise teens for having lost the sense of revolution that their parents exhibited, worrying only about getting into stable employment and receiving a good salary.
The shift in power relations due to adoption of technologies is also seen as a factor behind how young people now increasingly control household spending behaviour and the fact that young people are now 5 times more expensive than 30 years ago.
The article which starts by drawing comparison to Holden Caulfield’s crisis of 2 generations ago ends with a list of recommendations to parents on how to raise their children with reference to such issues as – how to get them to answer the phone, or stop exposing too much of their lives online!

If you would like to know more about our own extensive and less sensationalist research report into Young Lives across South America – please click here

TWRAmericas have recently completed a major study of Trends among young consumers (ages 15-19) in Brasil across various cities and with youth of a variety of ages.

The study looked at a range of issues inclusing young peoples values and influences, the role that media and new technologies play in their lives, as well as the role of brands and advertising within their own youth cultures.

The research involved a wide range of qualitative methodologies – from focus groups to online interviews and digital ethnography

If you would like to know more about the project or to see some of the findings please get in touch and we’ll send  a copy of the Vidas Jovens DVD Report to you.

Please get in touch or leave any comments on the event

Whilst in London Ive been able to meet up with two (young) old friends. Always a pleasure and enlightening to spend time with them. I wanted just to post a few quick clips from an interesting discussion about their media usage and online lives. Here they discuss some of the pros and cons of being constantly connected and its implications on their social relations. The girls have both recently moved into the world of Blackberry, as have a number of their peer group.    

The need to attain educational and professional qualifications, and to combine such studies with the economic necessity of working to support families are amongst the principal concerns of young people across South America.

Research identified the need to encourage forms and systems of education that do not force young people to quit work and encourage more flexible hours of courses. One niche area of work for young people in Brazil is telemarketing and for this reason research focused on this sector. Findings of the report identified that a majority of young Brazilians employed in this sector do so to fund continuing higher education. Other findings back up the results of recent research which highlighted fears of security and sustainable development as being most pressing amongst young people on the continent.

Research was conducted with 960 interviewees, principally with young people in social movements in six countries and managed by 2 Brazilian Institutes: Ibase and Polis (Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas e Instituto de Estudos Formação e Assessoria em Políticas Sociais.

Understanding young people in Brazil, their attitudes and behaviours seems to make great sense to us. Not least because the Brazilian child and youth population amounts to 34.1 million, almost the same as the entire population of Argentina. At the macro level, half of the world population is under 25 and 85% of them live in developing countries.

The results of a couple of unrelated pieces of research focusing on Brasilian youth have both highlighted a tendency towards conservativism and a focus on the importance of education and the family. The first, “Adolescentes e Jovens do Brasil: Participação Social e Política” a wide-ranging quantitative study conducted by the UNICEF in conjunction with the Ayrton Senna Institute and Fundação Itaú Social, questioned more than 3,000 teenagers across the country. Key findings included the following:

- Education was seen as the most significant factor in allowing for a successful life. A majority were happy with the quality of education received but the most commonly cited problems were the lack of classes, places and structure to courses.

- As well as their personal futures Brazilian youth demonstrate concern for the everyday social and political problems facing the country. Political corruption (27%), racial discrimination (17%) and lack of public safety (15%) being the top concerns.

- The principal leisure activities amongst adolescents are visiting the homes of friends (52%), watching TV (52%). On average young people spend nearly 4 hours per day watching TV

Elsewhere, the relatively new and interesting Brasileiros magazine reports on the findings of some qualitative research groups and interviews with young Brazilians from across the social spectrum. The key findings according to the report, not untypical of trends elsewhere are those of a generation no longer in conflict with its parents, increasingly living within the family home and whilst waiting for employment opportunities living out an extended youth. Dubbed the ‘Family Generation’, the piece argues that the key differences lie between youth in lower social classes who are primarily seeking stability and a better life than their parents and the middle class youth who are more able and inclined to seek a good time. Interestingly the writers argue that the family occupy a space more important than school, the church or the peer group in most young peoples lives with middle class youth tending to be excessively pampered and lower middle class youth having more freedom and mobility.

What better excuse than today being World Aids Day, to put up a clip of our very own Lara Vainer discussing her recent involvement researching on the project ‘experimento elastico‘ with artist Adriana Bertini. The innovative project is part of the “Muro Graphia” programme funded by SESC in Sao Paulo. The project which has just come to a finish has seen Lara and Adriana working with up to 300 teens from some of the cities poorest neighbourhoods to create artistic designs solely from condoms. Along side the art work was a programme of evealuation and health awareness. More postings with clips of Lara discussing the research findings and implications of such programmes by going here… but there’s a taster below…