When it comes to new technology, there is a widespread perception that young people have a fundamentally different relationship with it, that they fearlessly pounce on each new gadget as it comes out and quickly put it to use, whereas older folks resist, and that they do so as much out of habit as fear, preferring the comfort of the known over the thrill of the new. 

But is it really so?

A  new study says not. It concludes that it’s simply myth that the young adopt each new technology as it comes along. Quite the contrary, it reports that many are reluctant to try new technologies.

 “There is a lot that is counter-intuitive,” says Julian Rolfe of the findings. Rolfe oversaw the study for Synovate, a market research firm.
 
Called Planet Edge, the study was conducted across 11 European countries and involved online interviews with 400 people ages 18 to 24 in each country to assess how they spend their leisure time. One key area researchers looked at was this age group’s relationship with technology.

That relationship was not always what was expected. Just 11 percent said they bought technology as soon as it came out. That matches the percentage who said they waited until it becomes part of the mainstream.

The bulk of respondents fell somewhere between the early adopters and mainstream adopters. Some 36 percent said they tend to have new technology before most people, but a larger share, 42 percent, said they’d rather wait to see what other people were saying about it.

“What technology is for them is a facilitator for entertainment and above all communication,” says Rolfe. “They are very much blasé about technology now. They’ve grown up with it. It’s wallpaper for them; it’s not special.” 

The study also knocks down the notion that younger generations are super aware of new technologies as they arrive. 

It found that the majority of 18-24s felt that it was difficult to stay abreast, with 17 percent strongly agreeing with the statement that technology becomes out of date so quickly that it is difficult to keep up and another 43 percent agreeing slightly.

“That means that 60 percent generally agree,” says Rolfe, referring to the idea that technology is difficult to keep up with. “This is not the image that older people have of youth.”

Another perception the study disproves is that the young are using the internet for all sorts of complicated things that older people couldn’t understand.

“What we find is that it is pretty mundane things that they are doing online,” says Rolfe. Some 75 to 80 percent are communicating by email or instant messenger. Yet only 15 percent have ever created a blog, and only 19 percent ever have used what they dub MMORPGS (massively multi-player online role-playing games) like Second Life.

And while we all heard a lot about social networking sites last year, in fact only 25 percent of respondents use social networking sites.

“The opinion on social networking sites is that the perception among 18 to 24s is that it is younger people that are doing it--their younger brothers and sisters,” says Rolfe.

Further, when 18- to 24-year-olds do use these sites, they tend to use them to talk to real-life friends, rather than folks they have meet on the network.  

All this is not to say that 18 to 24 year olds are not wedded to their computers. When asked what one piece of technology is most important to them, the laptop, with 28 percent, ranked only just marginally behind the mobile phone, with 32 percent. Plus another 12 percent said broadband. And when asked what activities they did regularly, surfing topped TV with 74 percent compared to 72 percent.

How does all this relate to young people in America and their relationship with technology?

Rolfe was reluctant to draw any conclusions, and he says results could very well be different. But he does say that at least across Europe results were consistent from country to country. In any case, the study will go global at some point, and that would include a look at the U.S.

Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended Feb. 4, the top five parent companies were Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were also familiar, Yahoo, Google, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and AOL Media Network.

Experian Group Limited was the top advertiser with 10.75 million impressions generated, more than double No. 2 NexTag at 5.26 million. With 27.7 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, more than tripling No. 2 MySpace at 6.85 million.

Sessions per person per week were even to last week at 17, with domains visited per person down from 40 to 39. Average PC time per person per week was essentially even 17 hours and 39 minutes.