Ahmedabad: Young India is growing up immersed in advanced technology. The TCS Youth Survey is one of the largest studies in the country that captures the Digital habits of children between the age group of 12-18 years. Generation Z (Gen Z) is defined as the group born after 1995 – the current youth generation. Below are some of the technology-related survey results from Ahmedabad.

1. Story-telling through photographs

While Facebook (66%) continues to be the most popular, interestingly Instagram was found to be the next favorite social media platform amongst 43% of the teens in Ahmedabad. The increasing preference for Instagram indicates that teens in the city prefer to share their life stories through pictures. Other platforms like Google Plus (30%), Twitter (22%), Snapchat (21%) and Quora (21%) are also gaining popularity. Ahmedabad teens were found to be simultaneously active on multiple social media platforms.

2. Insta-famous

The younger generations now look at different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. for their idols. 46% Ahmedabad teens follow sports personalities on social media, closely followed by film stars (41%) and YouTube celebrities (36%) which are quickly gaining popularity amongst youngsters in India.

3. Ahmedabad: City of gamers

A lot of the web content is consumed through a wide range of apps available for various purposes. Gaming apps were found to be the most popular (61%) amongst Ahmedabad teens, followed by educational apps (56%) and instant messaging apps (50%). entertainment (35%) and shopping apps (35%) are emerging as the next most popular app choices among the students in the city.

4. Ahmedabad still prefers Paper money

75% of Ahmedabad youth shop online. Cash on delivery either using parent’s money (69%) or pocket money (37%) is the most preferred mode of payment.

5. Tech toys gets cooler

While smartphones (21%) and laptops (14%) continue to be the most coveted gadgets for Ahmedabad’s Gen Z, advanced gadgets like smart watches (13%) followed by virtual reality headsets (10%) and gaming consoles (10%) are quickly gaining popularity amongst the students in the city.

6. Constantly Connected

71% students primarily use internet at home through fixed line/Wi-Fi while 62% of them access internet through 3G/4G connection on their smartphones. With the increasing need to be connected wherever one is, an interesting trend shows that 22% of the students access internet through Wi-Fi at public places.

7. Responsible generation

Parents and teachers can now relax as 70% of the respondents use internet for completing school assignments. This was followed by instant messaging at 61% and social media (56%).

8. Virtual Strangers

Social media being an important medium for interaction amongst the youth today, there is no surprise in the fact that these sites also play an important role in establishing friendships. 35% of the teenagers in Ahmedabad have made more than 100 friends through social media sites.

9. This is temporary, we will be back

71% of the teens in Ahmedabad have deleted or deactivated their social media account at least once either due to parental pressure or because they find it a waste of time.

10. Born to Lead

Teens in Ahmedabad are highly influenced by personalities like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sunder Pichai and APJ Abdul Kalam. While more than half (56%) of the respondents in Ahmedabad aspire to be entrepreneurs, nearly 37% would opt for a career in engineering and IT-related fields.

Hasit Kaji, Vice President, Special Initiatives TCS says, “Our survey reveals that generation Z of Ahmedabad are highly connected, socially engaged and digitally influenced. It is interesting to see there has been a gradual but strong shift towards content sharing through powerful yet simple tool of photographs. Technology is redefining the way young India connects, pursues hobbies and accesses information through smart gadgets and apps. The TCS annual survey of students from across the country gives leaders in different industries glimpses into tech habits of tomorrow’s professionals.”

About TCS GenZ Survey

TCS GenZ Survey 2016-17 was undertaken during the TCS IT Wiz program, to get a pulse of the digital habits of school students from class 8-12. The survey aims to capture the changing trends of the youth across the Nation with a focus on technology. The objective was to comprehend and compare the digital habits of school students in major and mini metros of India. The TCS GenZ Survey 2016-17 is one of the most comprehensive school level studies of this scale, in India, to capture information access trends, social networking preferences, career interests etc.

DeshGujarat