Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 14, 2020
Who are the first to use smart displays?
The few smart displays used in the marketplace have stronger penetration among younger than older adults. Based on our most recent research results in TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, market penetration is still quite small.
Meanwhile, our other survey results show video calling using platforms like Zoom has found strength among seniors.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 11, 2020
Communication is a vital and regular activity for connected devices. There are many choices – email, phone calls, video calls, video meetings, group chats – and the experience is different for each type. This MetaFAQs looks at asynchronous communication activities – those where the communicators don’t need to be engaged at the same time – to see how widespread their use is by age. It also looks at synchronous activities – where communications are in touch at the same time – to see how their usage levels vary.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 4, 2020
Are younger adults different than older adults in using wireless Bluetooth headsets?
Humans have experienced a generation gap for millennia, both younger and older ones pondering why different-aged others don’t hear what they have to say. Current technology – especially Bluetooth wireless headsets – may make the gap even wider.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 2, 2020
Do different age groups play favorites when it comes to game consoles? Do any brands stand out as being used more often by some age groups than others? This MetaFAQs answers these questions based on the 12,516 online adults responding to the MetaFacts TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 survey.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, November 23, 2020
About MetaFAQs
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.
The home PC has been a central part of the American technology user’s world for years, and while remaining so for many, the home PC is slowly losing its primacy among some market segments.
Home PCs have been challenged by the emerging use of smartphones and tablets, not only among younger Americans. Older Americans have also rapidly adopted smartphones and are starting to discover how to use them well. Home PC makers, software developers, and service providers have worked hard to keep the home PC as a central device, or at least one that is included.
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TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 spans a broad range of technology products and services, about the full range of users, including their activities, and all unified by a central, integrated dataset. The comprehensive research results can be viewed through a number of topical lenses, and from there, can be further customized or drilled down into.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, September 23, 2020
Do all Americans use home PCs at the same rate? Are younger American adults using home-owned PCs at a higher rate than other adults, or at a lower rate? This MetaFAQs details the active usage of a PC acquired with personal funds by American adults split by age cohort: GenZ, Millennials, GenX, Boomers, and Silent + Greatest.
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Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, January 24, 2020
Millennials may be getting bad press for lagging in real estate and financial investments, but they’re well invested in tech devices. Millennials use the largest number of connected devices per capita, including more than the next-younger generation – GenZ. PCs are the major device for all generations, while tablets have tumbled in usage among younger adults.
This TUPdate shares a top-level view into generational differences – in their use of technology devices and their financial net worth and assets. The results are based on TUP/Technology User Profile waves from 2014 through 2019 in the US and the US Government’s Survey of Consumer Finances and estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank. The US Federal Reserve Bank made headlines earlier this year when they released the latest DFA – Distribution of Financial Accounts.
GenZ settling down faster? Or Millennials hanging on?
Each successive generation has been using more devices than the one older; however, that’s recently changed. When the first members of the GenZ generation (born 1997 and after) turned 18 in 2015, their average number of devices was the highest ever seen by any generation – 5.8 on average.
Since 2015, GenZ has bucked its elders’ trend by reducing its tech device usage faster than those slightly older. Beginning in 2017, GenZ uses fewer devices than Millennials. It’s not only that GenZ reduced use, but also that Millennials are continuing to use more than most. From 2014 through 2019, American Millennials have used 20% more devices than the average American.
Overall drop in number of devices used
The year 2015 marked a turning point for connected devices in the US, as the national average number of devices in regular use by adults began consolidation. In 2015, online Americans used an average of 4.5 devices – smartphones, tablets, PCs, and game consoles. This declined each year steadily, with the current average in 2019 being 3.8.
This widespread reduction is due to many reasons. One major factor in consolidation is what people do with their devices. Although cross-platform and browser-based apps have been available for some time, we’re seeing users stretch beyond their habitually favored devices to slowly but steadily extend activities across more than single devices. With the growth in spreading activities across devices, this, in turn, reduces the need to use as many. For example, while many would primarily use a home desktop PC for online banking, a growing number have moved their banking to their tablets or smartphones. (For more details on these shifts, please see Smartphones Rise, PCs and Printers Float, Tablets Waver – User Trends)
PC reigns as essential
PCs continue as bedrock devices for all generations. However, they are a smaller share among GenZ than among older generations. 36% of the connected devices GenZ use are PCs, and this share rises with each generation, reaching almost half (46%) of connected devices used by the Silent and earlier generations. Smartphones are a solid second device among all generations and make up between 25% to 30% of actively used devices. Game consoles rank highest among GenZ and Millennials, versus tablets for older generations. And to the extent basic cell phones are being used by anyone, they are most firmly in the hands of the oldest generation.
Tablets recede among GenZ while elders get smarter
In 2015, the mix of devices by generation was like 2019 in most respects, with several crucial differences. Among GenZ, tablets were stronger and have since then faded to be replaced by wider PC use. The Boomer generation has nearly let go of their basic cell phones and moved to smartphones. Game consoles were just as youth-oriented in 2015 as in 2019 and are continuing to be active even as each generation ages.
American Millennial Tech Wealth
Most connected devices are in the hands of Millennials. 37% of total connected devices – mobile phones, PCs, tablets, and game consoles – are in the hands of millennials – American adults born between 1981 to 1996. This is far above the tech holdings of GenX and Boomer generations.
The share of devices nationally for Millennials and Gen Xers has not shifted significantly over the last five years. The share of tech devices among Boomers, meanwhile, has dropped. Some of this reduction is due to boomers leaving the workforce and so no longer using employer-provided PCs.
Boomers and GenX are nearer to each other in size, as both are shrinking and yielding to younger generations.
Consumer Durables by generation
Looking more broadly beyond tech devices shows a similar but more delayed pattern. As Federal Government economists measure consumer durables, tech devices are only a fraction. Millennials show a growing share of American consumer durables as their numbers grow, but a much smaller share than their share of tech devices. Also, Baby Boomers and Silent and Earlier have a relatively larger share of consumer durables than tech devices.
Millennials are showing stronger and growing participation in the economy. Their share of consumer durables is still smaller than other generations. However, its growth is on par. Despite having higher debt levels than other generational groups, Millennials are continuing to buy tech and durable products.
The Federal Reserve Bank develops this information from the ongoing Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) and Financial Accounts of the United States. (Note: The Fed does not yet include GenZ in this data.)
Net Financial Wealth by Generation
In one of the most widely cited measures from the Fed’s results, net financial wealth, Millennials have the lowest financial net worth. As Americans born between 1981 and 1996, Millennials have less net financial net wealth than any other generation. Net worth accounts for the value of assets above liabilities.
Looking ahead
Just as economic mobility doesn’t shift quickly, neither do habits around technology usage nor buying. Looking ahead, I expect Millennials to continue to lead in the number of tech devices used and GenZ to have slightly less. As to device types, game consoles will continue to skew younger and are unlikely to reach much of a larger share of user’s devices than today’s levels. PCs will continue to be the major device among older adults, although falling out of top usage among GenZ somewhat.
About TUPdates
TUPdates feature analysis of current or essential technology topics. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2020, which is TUP’s 38th annual. TUPdates may also include results from previous waves of TUP.
Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.
On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.
We know you’re curious – like we are! That’s what compels us to be researchers, driven by the quest for clearer truth and actionable insights.
To read more findings from MetaFacts, current subscribers can choose subjects of interest from among TUP Topics in our client portal.
There you will find a full range of deliverables: MetaFAQs, TUPdates, TUP Highlights, TUP Tables, and more, spanning the wide range of technology products, services, users, and the activities those users enjoy.
About TUP Deliverables
MetaFAQs
MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. They are drawn from the MetaFacts TUP/Technology User Profile datasets, the latest research developed through surveys. TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 is in its 38th continuous year.
TUPdates
TUPdates are focused analysis on a current topics of interest in the technology industry. Like MetaFAQs, they draw on research results from the MetaFacts TUP/Technology User Profile datasets. They probe more deeply into the topic, and are typically one to three pages long.
TUP Highlights & Tables
Subscribing clients who value ready access to key results value the TUP Highlights & Tables deliverables. MetaFacts analyzes the TUP results to prepare top-level findings with written analysis and charts, organized into topical areas. These are accompanied by supporting data in easy-to-access cross-tabulations.
TUP Datasets, Inquiry, Interactive
For hands-on analysts interested in deeper exploration, customization, and integration with other data sources value the TUP Datasets, Inquiry Service, or Interactive Tools. These deliverables provide ways for subscribing clients to quickly plumb the depths of TUP themselves.
How to receive complimentary MetaFAQs and TUPdates
MetaFAQs and TUPdates are a small portion of the deliverables in the TUP/Technology User Profile service. On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions – or TUPdates – analysis of current topics in the technology industry.
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.
