To what extent does your own media consumption confirm or challenge the trends identified by Morgan Stanley?
The ways in which my media consumption confirms the trends identified by Morgan Stanley are especially shown where I can relate to his points in television where Matthew Robson stated that ‘most teenagers watch television, but there are points in the year where they watch more than average’, this is because of favourite TV series start and finish during the year, I mainly watch Made in Chelsea but it is a late viewing so I sometimes catch it on 4od which allows me to watch the show whenever I wish to, this relates to Matthews later point of ‘teenagers are watching less television because of services such as BBC iPlayer’. The service provider for our TV was Virgin Media because of the ‘lower costs’ but we have recently switched back to SKY, as it is a more reliable service provider.
I can confidently say that I am definitely one of many teenagers whom does not read the daily newspaper other than every Monday morning Media Guardian in media class, but I do know a couple of girls and boys my age whom do enjoy to regularly keep up on world affairs.
I can agree with his opinion of gaming being mainly targeted and enjoyed by boys more than girls, but since the new game console the ‘Wii’ came out, it has attracted many girls and younger children. I do not use the PC for any gaming but I do know of people who use The Sims, so I don’t completely agree with his argument that PC gaming has ‘no place in the Teenage Market’.
Internet is nearly 24/7 for me; I have connections on my Blackberry, on school computers and then at home on my Mac. My use for Internet in my free time is normally used for music (YouTube is definitely a big hit for me), homework, fashion sites (I use these to browse shops and sometimes buy clothes, I disagree with ‘most teenagers don’t have credit cards’ as nearly every teenager I know has a debit card) and social websites such as Facebook. Even though I have a twitter account, I don’t use it, a lot of my friends do use twitter, it is becoming more popular day by day as more people join making it more interesting and fun. I disagree with his statement that ‘teenagers do not use twitter’. However I do understand that the Morgan Stanley report was published almost two years ago, and the world of technology has changed a great deal in that short time and so this research is quite out-of-date.
Personally I use directories by either researching on my phone Internet or computer internet, if I’m in a rush I would call the number 118247, it is very similar to 118118 but a cheaper version as I agree 118118 is ‘quite expensive’.
Overall I feel that all marketing is incredible irritating whether it’s on TV breaks or through emails instead of being enjoyable, I can confirm that adverts on websites are ‘extremely annoying and pointless’. Outdoor advertising can sometimes be interesting like in tube stations for new music albums or new shows on at the theatre.
Music is a big thing to me, I love music but I know some teenagers aren’t as enthusiastic about it and listen to what I call ‘easy’ radio stations like capital where its just the top 40 UK/America’s favourite songs played repeatedly. I am extremely reluctant to pay for it, knowing how quick easy and simple it is to download it free, but I know some people my age who are against that and save money to pay for songs off iTunes. If there is a favourite band of mine like Arctic Monkeys where I would want to have the whole album I would buy the cd from a music shop like HMV or iTunes website. Also old vintage CD’s are hard to find on the Internet so I would also buy them from stalls or private music shops. I legally listen to the radio every day, when I’m travelling in the car or at home. My favourite radio stations are XFM because of the rock indie music and Radio1 because of the presenters and mix of music including very newly discovered artists who develop different sounds of music. I own an iPod as well where I can download all my music and take it abroad with me.
Cinema is somewhere I usually visit quite often but since the costs have gone up I have been less inclined to go, I can confirm is fact and opinion of that due to ticket pricing, once 15 we have to pay for an adult ticket which is almost double the price of a Childs ticket in some cinemas brand. One can understand that, although it is illegal, for some the chance to buy a pirate at a much lower cost and then re watch it time and time again it is much more appealing, aside from the fact that sometimes the quality is quite bad.
Mobile phones are used by everyone mostly by teenagers with their social lives, now-a-days mobile phones are capable of much, including Internet, games, cameras and even work documents. Some even offer services where you have an app to chat to other people for free who also have that app such as ping or bbm (which is exclusive to BlackBerrys). As far as contracts, I have never had pay as you go, I always had a monthly payment of 15 pounds and now being with Orange for quite a few years I get privileges such as unlimited Internet and unlimited texts. I completely agree with the fact o not having an expensive phone because of losing it etc. but the expensive phones are normally on offers as free upgrades with certain contracts, so people tend to just get them anyway. Bluetooth on phones is a regular use, it is quick and easy to share music, pictures and videos. Nobody buys songs of their phones because of the scamming price of 20 pounds per week, on their contract bill. I challenge his views on email by phones, as I use it all the time, I get sent my work rota and driving test appointments, as well as upcoming concerts I am going to, online shopping receipts and any deals on at restaurants.
I have my own TV in my room, which I occasionally use to play DVD's, but I normally use my Mac because of the wider screen. The family TV is the same but we did update our server. In our household we have one mac, one PC, one MacBook Air, one Dell laptop, and an iPad. Our game consoles are the PlayStation one and two, the Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS.
Overall I confirm the trends identified by Morgan Freeman but disagree with little personal opinions; the main thing I disagree with is the statement that ‘most teenagers nowadays are not regular listeners to radio’.
