For India's teens, their default lifestyle is Digital

If you are in marketing and want to reach out to India’s urban teens or #GenY where do you go? More than mall and cinemas, they are to be found on Facebook, Google+, Whatsapp and Twitter. Nine of 10 high school kids who took part in the annual #TCSGenY survey said they had a presence on social media and over 75% said that they spent an hour online every day. Over 72% said they used smartphones and two out of  every three said that they had shopped online at least once in the past 12 months.

While recent reports by #WEF have cast doubts on the ability of GenY to exploit basic technology like search even though they are digital natives, the #TCSGenY survey clearly shows that Indian high school teens are fast adapting to a lifestyle where the default is digital. And that’s not just in the Indian metros. As this Huffington Post article shows, there is not much difference between Tier I and Tier II cities anymore when it comes to teens being digitally savvy.

Sample these findings:

• 9 of 10 have Facebook accounts; 4 in 10 use Twitter
• 1 in 3 respond to online notifications within 5 five minutes
• 60% use Whatsapp; 3x the number that use SMS
• More than two-thirds post on social media at least 3 times a week
• 46% use video chat services like Skype and Google chat
• More than 50% get their news from online links and 33% from shares

The #TCSGenY survey also found some interesting quirks about India’s cities.

For example, #didyouknow that kids from Lucknow are the most active in Twitter or that Bhuwaneshwar has the most kids on FB. Similarly Delhi’s teens are more likely shop online than their national counterparts, while Hyderabad students top the charts in video chat usage.

But whether digitally savvy or not, India’s GenY is still bound by a strong family culture and values in their online interactions. This trend too is reflected in the survey. More than one in two kids said that parents had access to their online accounts and monitored their behaviour. Some things never change when it comes to Indian parents and their kids!

For more follow @people_tcs on Twitter.