Online or In person? Study Says Gen Z, Millenials Find the Former More Important

As so many first impressions, both individual and businesses, are now happening virtually, 60 per cent of Gen Z and 62 per cent of millennials think presenting oneself online is more important than in-person, finds a study. Compared to Gen Z and millennials, only 38 per cent of Gen X and 29 per cent of baby boomers find digital presence important. The study, by US-based e-commerce platform Squarespace, surveyed over 2,000 US adults to find the roles of websites in daily life and how memorable they are.

Nearly half (44 per cent) of Gen Z and 39 per cent of millennials say they make a better impression online than in person, versus 21 per cent of Gen X and 8 per cent of Baby Boomers.

Gen Z are more likely to remember the last website they visited (43 per cent) than their partner’s birthday (38 per cent) or their own social security number (31 per cent).

A whopping 92 per cent of Gen Z is also well able to multitask while browsing websites online — they’re also more likely than any other generation to eat food (59 per cent), listen to music (59 per cent), talk on the phone (45 per cent) or dance (28 per cent) while browsing websites.

“The majority of Gen Z believe that how you present yourself online is more important than how you present yourself in person — and while 92 per cent of Gen Z are typically multitasking with other activities while browsing the web, they’re also more likely to remember the colour of a website than someone’s eye colour,” said Kinjil Mathur, Chief Marketing Officer at Squarespace.

Further, Squarespace discovered that Gen Z is the most ambitious generation: the vast majority (92 per cent) of Gen Zers would start their own business, compared to 86 per cent of Millennials, 74 per cent of Gen X and 50 per cent of Baby Boomers.

The survey also found that the younger generations are more adept at navigating social life online.

About 86 per cent of Gen Z and 79 per cent of Millennials look people up online before meeting them for the first time, compared to 65 per cent of Gen X and 44 per cent of Baby Boomers.

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