Does Age Matter When It Comes to Technology Use?

I stumbled across this interesting press release from a marketing company basically saying that marketers who are thinking about how people use technology based on their age is wrong. Instead they've segmented out different types of users. From the press release:

Marketing Concepts such as "youth market" and "baby boomers" are redundant in the world of connected digital lifestyles, according to "Goodbye Youth, Hello Technosumers: Effective Segmentation For The Digital Connected Lifestyle", the latest research from the Digital Consumer Practice at Strategy Analytics. The report identifies six distinct Connected Consumer market segments, ranging from "Affluent Technostyles" to "Practical Mainstreamers", and provides in-depth profiles of each group according to the group’s adoption of and interest in digital products and services. This research presents new insights on why some consumers are both late technology adopters and heavy Internet users ; and why people from different age and income groups can behave in exactly the same way.

Noteworthy findings include:

- "Prudent Nesters" are late adopters but view the Internet as a vital communications tool

- "Connected Aspirers" have the strongest interest in technology but adopt products at an average rate

- "Affluent Technostyles", while making up only 10% of households, have twice the ownership and usage rates for many digital products compared with the average consumer

- "Technosumers" own many digital products but have little interest in the Internet

I don't know if I completely buy this. I really believe that youth are at a completely different developmental phase than adults - heck, their brains are even different! And I think it's adolescent needs that drive how and why young people use technology. For example, the explosion of digital self portraiture is all about identity formation and validation. Teens are using tech tools to meet a need that used to happen crowding around photo albums or high school yearbooks. Blogs are public diaries or journals and also a key expression of identity with the added social networking and commenting features that keep teens hyper-connected to (and continuously validated by) their friends. This need for peer validation and connectedness extends to texting and IM as well. So I don't think it's about different types of users, and while there may be teens who fit these different profiles, I do think there are motivations behind technology use that are specific to young people.

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