Kids In Australia Going Back To The Old Telephone

from the much-more-personal dept

Just last week we were saying that kids in Korea were ditching email for SMS and instant messaging, even to the point where they implied that email was just for old folks. However, their counterparts in Australia apparently feel that both SMS and email aren't right for them. Instead, they're going back to the more "antiquated" telephone which they feel lets them build stronger relationships. They admit that email and SMS messaging lets them remain friendly with more people -- but that the relationships aren't as close. It would be interesting to see the methodology on both studies, as it sounds like both were simply done by asking people how much they used these technologies -- rather than actually tracking how they're used. Either way, both reflect that the younger generation certainly isn't tied down to any one particular way of communicating, and are open to using whichever one makes the most sense for what they want to do at that moment. Update: Ah, but maybe not. Apparently another study last week in Australia said pretty much the opposite -- that kids were much more interested in SMSing than in talking by phone. Just goes to show you how much faith to put in these types of studies.