Conversation Loses Out to Facebook, Phone, Text, E-Mail When Gen Y Moms 'Talk' to Immediate Family
Survey shows younger moms are first generation to communicate with less face time
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Gen Y is the first generation of U.S. moms who communicate with family members in their households with machines more than with face-to-face conversation. The combination of phone, Facebook, text and e-mail outweighed direct conversation for them, according to a national survey.
The survey, sponsored by the Nashville-based WhyMomsRule blog, polled 600 women 18 and older with at least one child at home to gauge differences in opinions and behaviors between Gen Y, Gen X and baby boomer mothers.
"Gen Y moms, the youngest group studied, said in-person conversation accounted for only 48 percent of their total household communication. The majority was a combination of phone (21 percent), text (14 percent), Facebook (10 percent) and email (7 percent)," said David Bohan, chairman and CEO of BOHAN Advertising | Marketing in Nashville, which publishes WhyMomsRule.
By contrast, boomer moms are more personal, saying 62 percent of their communication was in person, and Gen X moms were close to that at 58 percent.
Moms in all age groups share concerns about finances, but there are variations. Across all groups, a significant majority of 67 percent said their biggest concern this year is "being able to pay all the bills." That concern ranked highest for 74 percent of the Gen Y moms, 67 percent of the Gen X group and 60 percent of the boomers.
Fifty percent of the boomer moms worry more than their younger counterparts about financing their kids' educations (37 percent for Gen X and 26 percent for Gen Y), and 32 percent of the boomer moms worry about job loss for their spouse or partner.
Almost one-quarter of all the moms say they are concerned about making mortgage payments, and almost one-third of the boomer moms (30 percent) worry about inflation. Inflation was less of a concern for Gen X (25 percent) and Gen Y (18 percent) moms.
"As far as what's on moms' minds, it's a paraphrase of James Carville: 'It's the stupid economy,'" Bohan said.
Other findings of particular note to marketers:
- Eighty-eight percent of moms do at least some online research before in-store shopping, but a quarter of all moms do online research for only 10 percent of their shopping. However, there's a significant niche of 14 percent who research more than 60 percent of their purchases online before buying.
- Most moms, 77 percent, report that their kids influence their purchases. The primary influence time is while in stores. Two-thirds of Gen X moms hear those juvenile pleas, while 52 percent of Gen Y and 57 percent of boomer moms do.
- Across all shopping categories, Gen Y moms are more brand loyal than the other groups. Categories with significantly larger levels of loyalty were groceries, dining out, clothing/shoes, toys, electronics and gifts. All three groups of moms express brand loyalty for grocery items.
- Moms' biggest opportunity for "me time" is after their kids are asleep in the evening (57 percent of Gen Y, 55 percent of Gen X and 37 percent of boomers), but 32 percent of boomer moms seize personal time before their families get up in the morning.
- The top "me time" activity for a majority of all groups was watching TV (52 to 56 percent), while "doing absolutely nothing" was cited by 55 percent of Gen Y, 45 percent of Gen X and 41 percent of boomers. Browsing Facebook was cited by 46 percent of Gen Y, 43 percent of Gen X and 28 percent of boomers.
- Local TV is the primary news source for moms overall (65 percent).
The survey was conducted Aug. 16-20 and has a 3-5 percent margin of error. Visit WhyMomsRule to view the entire survey and analysis.
SOURCE WhyMomsRule.com
Share this article