Products The Facebook Generation Won’t Buy

Just the other day, one of our co-workers leaning on a phone book spawned a conversation about products that have gone by the wayside.  We talked about phone books, landlines, typewriters, tapes (VHS and audio cassette) and how even CD's seem somewhat archaic now.

I don't even use a phone book anymore.  Anytime I need a number, I use Google to find it.  You?

So when I saw this article about "Eight Products the Facebook Generation Won't Use," I wanted to share it with you.

Look at the items below.  I haven't read a newspaper in at least 10 years, haven't had a landline phone since 2005 and am now moving away from using a desktop computer ... and I'm quite a bit older than the so-called Facebook Generation.

This one from the list might be the MOST interesting to me ... 46% of drivers aged 18 to 24 report that they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to research firm Gartner. I can't imagine not having a car!

Where do you fall on this list?  Very intriguing...

(The list is from Yahoo.com and I put excerpts from the article in italics.)

1. Email.  From December 2009 to December 2010, time spent using email by the 12- to 17-years-old age group dropped a tremendous 59%.

2. Beer. Light beer has become to the current generation of youth what regular beer was just a few decades ago. Budweiser believes four out of 10 people in their mid-20s have never tried regular beer. In 1988, that rate was just 1.5 out of ten.

3. Newspaper.  As of 2010, only 7% of 18- to 24-year-olds reported having read a print newspaper the day before, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. This is the first time that figure has reached single digits. This age group also has among the highest rates of people reportedly receiving news through social networking sites or Twitter.

4. Cars. As recently as 1998, 64.4% of potential drivers 19 and younger had drivers licenses. As of 2008, that amount had dropped to 46.3%. Additionally, 46% of drivers aged 18 to 24 report that they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to research firm Gartner.

5. Landline Phones.  Landline phones are losing popularity among Generation Y, who are becoming increasingly content with only having wireless phones.  51.3% of Americans aged 25 to 29 lived in households with only wireless phones in the first six months of 2010.

6. Cigarettes.  Smoking rates among young people have historically exceeded those of the general population. Now that group is dropping the habit quicker than anyone.

7. Desktop Computers.  Millennials are the only generational group to be more likely to own a laptop computer than a desktop.

8. Television.  Adults aged 18 to 24 watch less traditional television than any other age group in the country, according to Nielsen’s most recent Cross Platform Report. That group, on average, watches just under 24 hours per week.