Research Statistics
Gen Z & Y Statistics
Image Source: mccrindle.com
Hi Everyone! In today's blog I am going to be talking about statistics pertaining to the generations of Gen Z and Gen Y. I used an article produced by McCrindle, which is a social research company. Click HERE to access the article I will be discussing. The first statistic that stood out to me was, "Almost half of Gen Z turn to TikTok (48%) and Instagram (46%) to teach themselves new things daily." According to Google, there are about 2 billion Gen Z's in the world; that means that about 1 billion people are using TikTok or Instagram everyday to learn new things. My initial thoughts are how impactful and educational social media can truly be. I know there are plenty of cons when it comes to apps like TikTok or Instagram, but they also can be beneficial and are teaching people every single day. Even with this high statistic, I am not completely shocked. As a young 26 year old high school teacher, I can see firsthand how popular these two social media platforms are. I am constantly in a battle with students to be off their phone scrolling through these apps. I would consider my students to be addicted to these platforms. With that said, I think as a teacher I can use these platforms for educational related purposes. I have seen myself some fun math TikToks that I think would be awesome and a bonding experience to use in the classroom. It is important for all educators to explore educational research because it relates to what is happening in the classroom. We can use this research to our advantage in making class engaging for all students.
Furthermore, another statistic I found fascinating in the same article was, “Almost two in five Gen Z (38%) and 29% of Gen Y seek information from influencers more than once a week.” This statistic is showing the growth that social media is having on the generations. I fall into the Gen Y category and I know I am a victim of this statistic. I am always listening to what the influencers are saying and buying. I then base my own choices and decisions off of what they have to say. With that said, I know my students are getting a lot of their information from influencers as well. I am actually surprised this statistic is not higher. Based off myself and the impact social media influencers has on my students, I would think the statistic would be higher. I find talking about influencers creates a bonds with my students. We can discuss the different information we are hearing and how we feel about this. This also gets the class to dabble into some social emotional learning experiences. Realizing how Gen Z and Gen Y get a lot of information from influencers is also slightly alarming. Influencers are just that; for the most part they do not have any educational background on the topics they discuss. Because of this, it is important to take all the information from influencers with a grain of salt. We need to fact check what we are listening to and promote this with our students as well.
Image Source: giphy.com
The influencer statistic is probably higher. Remember, the McCrindle infographic is from 2019 which means the data is collected the year before most likely. Take a look at Pew's research and see if you can find any more current statistics on influencers to share with us!
ReplyDeleteHello, Maggie! You bring up some very interesting points. I find it incredibly telling of the generations when seeing that our youth head to Tik Tok or Instagram to learn new things. These short, graphically intensive videos are what is getting their learning and thinking going! I suppose having smartphones is wonderful, because they are responsive to your current curiosities, but it is more so interesting to see the shift from social media because a place to decompress to now being viewed as an educational opportunity for the up-and-coming generation.
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie! I found your article very interesting! I agree that it is crazy how much I hear my students tell me about what they learned from social media like Tik Tok or Instagram. Sometimes I can see how social media and apps can be a good thing where the students can learn educational things but I also can see a lot of how this could be negative on them. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post Maggie! Just thinking about all of the users on social media worldwide is mind-blowing - communication has expanded in ways never thought imaginable. It is interesting that something designed can be considered "addictive". I, too, battle for attention when with friends and their phones. As for influencers, I have trouble understanding the influence. What is the attraction?
ReplyDelete