Tradition Trumps Tech for Teens This Christmas

Handwritten Christmas Cards and Thank You Letters Beat Social Media Say UK Teenagers

Slough, UK: 23rd December 2014: 13 to 17 year olds are choosing traditional greetings over digital alternatives this festive season with 77% putting pen-to-paper to deliver a handwritten Christmas card, more than double those sending Christmas wishes via social media sites. That’s according to the initial findings from Logicalis’ seventh Realtime Generation Survey, an annual UK-wide survey of 1000 teenagers.

The traditional handwritten thank you letter is also the most popular way for this digital-savvy generation to say thanks for their gifts; 52% plan to write and send a letter or card this Christmas, 44% will text, and 19% said they plan to Skype or Facetime family and loved ones.

In spite of this, the survey results reveal that UK teenagers remain hooked on their gadgets:

• 40% have asked for a digital present this Christmas
• The average teenager already owns more than five digital devices
• The top devices owned by UK teens today are:
  1. Smartphone – 88%
  2. Laptop – 81%
  3. Tablet – 66%
  4. Games Console – 61%
  5. Desktop PC – 47%
• On average, teens spend five hours actively engaged in digital activity every day. 8% admit to spending 10-12 hours per day in front of a screen.

Chris Gabriel, CTO at Logicalis UK, said, “Although these initial findings show this generation is clearly tech-focussed and digital first in every day life, it’s positive to see that the personal touch and long-standing traditions of sending Christmas greetings is not lost.”

Further detail of the initial survey results include:

• Top ways for teens to send Christmas greetings this year:
  1. Written Christmas card – 77%
  2. Text message – 42%
  3. Social media – 36%
  4. eCard – 10%
• Top ways for teens to say thank you for Christmas gifts this year:
  1. Written thank you letter or card – 52%
  2. Text message – 44%
  3. Social media – 33%
  4. Video call – 19%
  5. eCard – 9%
• Top ways teens would like to receive Christmas greetings this year:
  1. Written Christmas card – 80%
  2. Text message – 34%
  3. Social media – 30%
  4. eCard – 12%

Ends

About the Annual Realtime Generation Survey
Logicalis’ Realtime Generation Survey seeks to establish the digital footprint of 13-17 year olds, the next generation of workers, and capture their opinions on the digital future of the UK. The complete findings of the research will be published in a comprehensive report in early 2015. Last year’s Realtime Generation Report ‘The Rise of the Digital First Era’, can be found here: http://www.uk.logicalis.com/knowledge-share/reports/real-time-generation-2013/.

The 2014-15 survey was conducted by ResearchBods. The base size for the statistics reported above is 922 children aged 13 – 17 years.

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international IT solutions and managed services provider with a breadth of knowledge and expertise in communications and collaboration; data centre and cloud services; and managed services.

Logicalis employs nearly 3,700 people worldwide, including highly trained service specialists who design, specify, deploy and manage complex ICT infrastructures to meet the needs of almost 6,000 corporate and public sector customers. To achieve this, Logicalis maintains strong partnerships with technology leaders such as Cisco, HP, IBM, CA Technologies, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualised revenues of $1.6 billion, from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific, and is fast establishing itself as one of the leading IT and Communications solution integrators, specialising in the areas of advanced technologies and services.

The Logicalis Group is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg and London AIM Stock Exchanges, with revenues of over $5 billion.

For more information, visit http://www.logicalis.com/.

Media contact:
Jacob Petterson/Jen Gambarini
Cohesive Communications
01291 626200
logicalis@cohesive.uk.com

Source: RealWire