We have landed in the digital age and have hardly noticed how differently we interact and entertain ourselves nowadays. Is it perhaps an exaggerated perception, product of the eternal generational conflict? Didn’t our parents worry about the time we spent in front of the TV or talking on the phone?
Several recent studies in the US and UK confirm that young adults are going out less frequently. They rather stay at home and enjoy the growing selection of content on demand: from food delivered to their home to movie streaming. They already spend more time on digital relationships than on physical ones, social networks have taken over the role as the best remedy for the fear of “missing something.” Young people continue to go out with friends, but not on a regular basis, only on special occasions.
This can be of concern for those who dedicate themselves to offering leisure away from home. But there is an important nuance: although the money and the time invested in going out is decreasing as a whole, it seems that the expenditure per outing is increasing. That means that when people do leave home, it is to experience something more exclusive, more select, more awesome. The most likely culprit: the digital version of narcissism: experiences are shared on social networks to impress, so they better be worth it!
It is true that these trends originate in the Anglo-Saxon culture, where these new technologies and generation labels were born. But globalization is causing fashions and trends to arrive sooner or later to the entire planet, it is even happening in our out-going Mediterranean countries. And it isn´t just because of the recession, it is because youth has become more selective and has a lot to choose from.
That is why you have to be prepared to create striking, unique, spectacular experiences. Offering real places where they can enjoy unique experiences in an analogical way, and that are certainly worthy of being shared digitally.
Mediocrity will not get the public out of their homes when the rain stops.
