Kids and technology

Reading this marketing study from MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft, I was more interested by the qualitative aspects than the quant stuff. The part that I found the most interesting is the following that shows how "Young people are not geeks":

""technology" itself is irrelevant to kids and young people. (...) "For kids and young people, 'tech' isn't a separate entity now, it's organic to their lives," said Fahey Rush. "They are completely focused on functionality." Apart from a few key new media terms, most young people avoided industry jargon. Only 8% of those questioned used the term "multi-platform," and only 16% admitted to using the phrase "social networking." The terms they use most frequently are those relating to accessing content for free, like "download" and "burn." They also use brand names rather than category terms, with MSN, Google, and MySpace amongst the most popular. The term "web 2.0" is used by very few people (8%) outside China."

Why do I blog this? this is very interesting in terms of "what does that mean" for industries that I know like video game design or mobile application development. Simply, it ponders the overemphasis on technology and the so-called coolness around it. The naming of technologies is particularly important, that is really something which struck me here, listening to kids talking about "mp3" for the device playing the file and not the format.