Understanding the tribe

The author Doug Larson once wrote that few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own. To take an already vengeful thought further, you could say that it’s difficult to decide whether growing pains are something teenagers have–or are.

Dr. Benjamin Spock, the late pediatrician who influenced millions of parents around the world to raise their children with love and common sense, sensibly steered clear of any serious attempt to comprehend teens. The soothing mantra of his classic book Baby and Child Care was: "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." Until, of course, your happily predictable child mutates into that strange animal called an adolescent–rendering you as clueless as you were with your first infant. If it’s any comfort, The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully couldn’t crack this enigma.

The McCann-Erickson Youth Study 2000 Edition, christened [email protected], seeks to decode what are, as far as most adults are concerned, inscrutable sites secured by the latest encryption technology–the hearts and minds of today’s teenagers. It is the ambitious follow-up to their 1992 profile of the Metro Manila youth. With partners GMA-7 and market research agency Trends-MBL, McCann-Erickson expanded its study to include 13- to 21-year-olds from class A-B-C-D living in urban areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The Youth Study’s results were unveiled at a flashy presentation in Makati’s Hotel Inter-Continental complete with spotlights, a deejay, three immense big screen TVs and the mandatory lack of punctuality. A bouncy MTV-type opening number preceded the event, the unwavering smiles and perkiness of Channel 7’s prettiest young things perhaps not quite representative of the often disturbing sentiments expressed in the study.

Nandy Villar, McCann’s VP for Strategic Planning, says, "The influence of technology and media–these were a little obvious–did not surprise us. The study just validated in terms of actual numbers what we thought was already happening. However, the part on values, their sense of right and wrong, was most surprising. We uncovered quite a number of paradoxes."

It is evident that a brave new social environment surrounds the youth today. About a decade ago, for instance, SM North Edsa was the only major mall. Computer games, the Internet and the proliferation of mass media now also have a profound impact on the lifestyle and psyche of today’s youth. Cellular phones were virtually unheard of in the previous generation. (Back then, the crucial denouement of a movie was only occasionally interrupted by the sound of chunky beepers going off. Those were the days.)

According to Newsweek (Are We Getting Smarter, issue of April 23/01), children now are more intelligent than ever. The more stimulating and visual environment composed of computer screens, fast food placemats and cereal boxes that today’s generations are growing up in may be training their young brains in the pattern analysis that IQ tests measure. Who doesn’t feel that today’s kids are smarter than we ever were at that age?

The McCann-Erickson Youth Study posits that today’s generation is much more social and connectivity-driven than those who came before them. With the kind of social environment they now live in, they feel a much stronger need to be stimulated by the world around them–a roundabout way of expressing that teens today have an even shorter attention span than their already concentration-challenged predecessors?

The study states, "One may argue that technology usage is limited only to the more affluent. While this may have been true initially, the youth of today are more empowered with technology than we thought. Access to the virtual/digital world is now within reach for many–even those from class CD homes."

Indeed, while only 13 percent and one percent of the class C and D markets, respectively, have computers that are hooked up to the Internet at home (vs. 62 percent for Class A-B), this does not stop them from accessing the virtual world. Internet cafés have enabled them to make contact with cyberspace for only a few pesos an hour. This is especially true for youth in the Visayas where Internet cafés can be seen in virtually every major district. It appears that technology has leveled the field.

Now for the first of many surprises: About three-fourths say that they liked school "very much". You could almost feel the draft fanned by a hundred raised eyebrows. The subsequent qualification quickly salvaged the study’s credibility. "What they really like most in school are not so much the teacher’s lectures (23 percent). Instead, they go to school mainly to take part in activities that involve interaction with their friends and classmates (33 percent) such as doing group projects, joining sports and so on. In fact, students in Metro Manila are not studying as much as before. The proportion who said they study after school has dropped, and so has the amount of time that they spend doing so. Incidence of accomplishing schoolwork has also declined significantly." Vindicated parents throughout the archipelago are soon expected to rub it in and tell their kids, "I told you so!"

A disconcerting revelation is the emergence of new value systems–"a ‘graying’ of the area that separates right and wrong" as the study terms it. Baby boomers and succeeding generations may pounce on this as proof that they have every right to straddle their high horse (conveniently forgetting the moral morass of the ‘60s and ‘70s), but they never had to contend with a hypersexed environment where music videos, movies, billboards and even computer games are suffused with enough bare skin to steam up their corrective lenses.

When shown a list of acts conventionally considered wrong and asked which of these they personally considered immoral, the answers of today’s youth clearly indicate a shift in how they define contemporary morality. "Less than half would personally say that hiring a prostitute, having a girlfriend/wife get an abortion (males), getting drunk and homosexuality is wrong. Only about half would personally consider things like premarital sex, phone or internet sex and gambling heavily as outright wrong. A majority (about 6 out of 10) say that divorce/separation, marital infidelity, pornography and having an abortion (among women) are wrong– but this still leaves out a significant number who likely do not."

Yet the incidence of sexual intercourse in Metro Manila decreased from 32 percent in 1992 to only 21 percent in 2000. "What this may indicate, instead, is that the youth now–or at least those in Metro Manila–are more discerning than their forebears. Access to more information has made them more aware of the consequences of this act and is making them more willing to forego it for now. One female youth conveyed this value clearly when she said: ‘Ang younger brother ko, ang bata-bata pa pero meron nang baby. Naawa ako sa kanya. Ang bata-bata pa pero may responsibilities na. I don’t want to be like him!’" says the study.

The results of the McCann-Erickson Youth Study 2000 Edition will take many months to evaluate; there is perhaps as much to read behind the lines as on the surface.

There are many surprises. Parents are actually spending more time with their kids, yet over a third of the respondents claim their parents still physically hurt them. The saccharine Martin Nievera competes with the take-no-prisoners band Limp Bizkit for the youth’s affections. As for sports icons, Efren "Bata" Reyes must share the table with "Iron Mike" Tyson or risk another ear-chomping incident. In Mindanao, the youth are more tolerant across-the-board when it comes to sex, drugs, and violence–and it does not appear to have anything to do with religion.

The insights obtained will certainly help make McCann-Erickson’s advertising campaigns more relevant, but there is a greater end envisioned. "We have to look at the bigger picture," says Villar. "Our competitors may read about the results, but it’s okay. Our main concern is to share with interested parties and society in general what we know about the Filipino youth. There is information that we keep to ourselves to really help us focus in terms of marketing and advertising. But there is a responsibility with having information as potent as this, which can influence society and government."

Cynics will claim that anything to do with the fickle youth is as ephemeral as the hottest model Nokia. But Villar counters, "A lot of this study are psychographics that reflect attitudes and mindsets. From experience, these things do not really change much over time."

For unconvinced adults–those who cannot accept that the young ones are simply different from the way they were–there is some consolation. It is said that there is nothing wrong with today’s teenager that 20 years won’t cure.