THE Pew Research Center, an American fact tank that looks at issues and trends, listed its 16 striking findings for 2016. While American in setting, there are some findings that may apply to our country.
Credit goes to the Pew Research Center (www.pewresearch.org) on this collection of facts and interpretation of trends for 2016. Here are some of the findings that could apply to the Philippines:
--“Young people today are more likely to be living with their parents than with a spouse or partner.”
The Pew report said that, for the first time in more than 130 years, adults aged 18 to 34 were slightly more likely to be living in their parents’ home. These new living arrangements largely reflect a shift away from marriage and partnership as young adults increasingly focus on education and the workplace.
This is true for many Filipinos who remain with their parents not simply out of the cultural expectation that children take care of their parents as they grow old but also because they have not married or they are focused on their professions. Some tried being independent or owning a condominium unit but returned to the family home for one reason or another – cannot adjust to living alone, tired to do housework without helpers, etc.
--“Millennials have become the nation’s largest living generation, surpassing Baby Boomers.”
The United States millennial population (those aged 18 to 35) now number 75.4 million and continues to grow. This increases the number of those eligible to vote. Baby Boomers were those who were born after World War II and are 52 to 70 years old in 2016.
In the Philippines, reports said millennials represent more than half of the 101 million population. They were born after martial law and may have a parent who is an overseas Filipino worker. Some of them have become owners of their own start-up endeavors.
--“Americans’ pathways to news are changing, and mobile news is on the rise.”
Tell that to Filipinos who rely on their mobile phones for news and almost everything else. Almost four-in-ten Americans (38 percent) often get news online today, behind only television (57 percent); radio (25 percent) and print newspapers (20 percent) trail both, the Pew report said.
Within the digital realm, mobile news consumption is rising rapidly: The proportion of Americans who ever get news on a mobile device has gone up from 54 percent in 2013 to 72 percent today. And among people who get news on both mobile and desktop, 56 percent prefer mobile.
The Philippines is a smartphone-savvy market with 119.2 million mobile connections as of September 2016. The connections surpass the number of Filipinos as some are known to have two or more subscriptions. Reading the news is one of the top things they do on their mobile devices.
--“Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform among Americans.”
Eight-in-ten online Americans (79 percent) use Facebook, more than double the share that uses Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn, the Pew report said. About three-quarters (76 percent) of Americans who use Facebook now report that they visit the site daily – up from 70 percent in 2015.
More than half of the Philippine population are on Facebook, the September 2016 report of wearesocial.com said. Majority of the Facebook users in the Philippines are millennials aged 18 to 24 (35 percent) and 25 to 34 (28 percent).
These are among the Pew findings for 2016. It is exciting to know how these trends would develop in 2017.
(ninicab@sunstar.com.ph)