Chinese Internet café in Lijiang, Yunnan, China.
Millions of young Chinese are embracing the Internet as a discreet space for their thoughts and emotions, according to a survey of Chinese and American youth released today by IAC, which operates businesses in sectors being transformed by the Internet, and JWT, an advertising agency network.
The findings show how readily young Chinese are taking to the Internet and its possibilities-for example, almost five times as many Chinese as American respondents said they have a parallel life online (61 percent vs. 13 percent). And while fewer than half of the 1,079 American respondents agreed that "I live some of my life online" (42 percent), a sizable majority of the 1,104 Chinese respondents agreed with the statement (86 percent). The two random online surveys polled 16- to 25-year-olds.
The study found that while a large majority of youth in both countries now feel dependent on digital technology, this attitude is especially pronounced in China. As many as 80 percent of Chinese respondents agreed that "Digital technology is an essential part of how I live," compared with 68 percent of Americans. The Internet is such a vital part of life for Chinese youth that they are twice as likely as young Americans to say they would not feel OK going without Internet access for more than a day (25 percent vs. 12 percent). And more than twice as many Chinese youth admitted they sometimes feel "addicted" to living online: 42 percent vs. 18 percent of Americans.
"The Chinese people seem to be way ahead of Americans in living a digital life," noted IAC Chairman and CEO Barry Diller today in Beijing, where he spoke to more than 350 Chinese students at Peking University. "More activity online means a more connected and a more evolved workforce -- just what China needs as it makes its move from being the workshop of the world, to a developed economy in its own right."
"Like many other areas in comparing Americans to the energy and progress elsewhere in the world, China's speedy evolution in its use of the internet is fast eclipsing that of the US. I think this is great for China, not so great for us," Diller added.
Test-Driving Freedom and Identity
"For young Americans, the Internet provides an incremental increase in the huge range of options they enjoy in life, but for young Chinese it represents a steep increase in choice -- and this is reflected in the strength of Chinese response to questions about opinions and interactions online," says Tom Doctoroff, JWT's CEO of Greater China and Northeast Asia area director.
While most American youth grew up taking for granted both interactive technology and the "let it all hang out" ethos it has encouraged, these are new concepts for young Chinese. "Our findings show that Chinese youth experience this new emotional space ... more intensely than young Americans," explains Doctoroff, author of Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer.
While the Internet provides an outlet for young people everywhere who are testing out different identities as they seek to discover themselves, this is especially true in China, where it allows more scope for experimentation than life offline. More than twice as many Chinese respondents agreed that "I have experimented with how I present myself online" (69 percent vs. 28 percent of Americans). And in fact, more than half the Chinese sample (51
percent) said they have adopted a completely different persona in some of their online interactions, compared with only 17 percent of Americans.
This experimentation is clearly contributing to the development of self-awareness among Chinese youth, said IAC and JWT in a release. Far more Chinese than Americans agreed that "Online interactions have broadened my sense of identity" (66 percent vs. 26 percent) and that "Online interactions have made me more self-aware" (60 percent vs. 26 percent).
Free Speech Very Free Online
In the United States, the land of guaranteed free speech, fewer than half of Americans (43 percent) agreed that "I often use the Internet to find the opinions of others or to share my opinions." By contrast, China's culture and political environment place less emphasis on personal views-and almost three- quarters (73 percent) of Chinese respondents said they go online to share opinions.
Chinese respondents were also more likely than Americans to say they have expressed personal opinions or written about themselves online (72 percent vs. 56 percent). And they have expressed themselves more strongly online than they generally do in person (52 percent vs. 43 percent of Americans).
That's largely because of the anonymity that the Internet offers, a key attraction for the Chinese. Chinese respondents were almost twice as likely as Americans to agree that it's good to be able to express honest opinions anonymously online (79 percent vs. 42 percent) and to agree that online they are free to do and say things they would not do or say offline (73 percent vs. 32 percent).
"One of the biggest differences between American and Chinese youth is in attitudes toward anonymity," says Doctoroff. "In the U.S., with its cult of celebrity, young Americans see the Internet as a way of getting known, of building their personal brand; many regard the Internet as a kind of personal broadcasting medium. But whereas publicizing your name, face and opinions is seen as a step toward success in the U.S., in China it has been a surefire way of veering into dangerous territory. So for young Chinese, the Internet is the ideal place to air opinions and hear what others think without crossing the line."
While a western ideal of individualism may not be in the near future for Chinese society, these findings show that the Internet is transforming China in a unique way -- towards liberalism with Chinese characteristics.
Methodology
In both China and the U.S., random online surveys polled respondents aged 16-25. The U.S. portion included 1,079 respondents. In China, 1,104 respondents were surveyed and the survey was conducted in Chinese. The U.S. data set was weighted to balance the number of males and females surveyed; the China data set was weighted to balance out age- distribution differences with the U.S. sample.
While the U.S. sample is representative of America's youth, the Chinese sample is necessarily weighted toward the young elite. Only about 10 percent of the Chinese population is online, largely young, urban and educated males. All Chinese respondents had a monthly household income of at least RMB 1,500.
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Photo by Selbst fotographiert. GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
