Bruno (19): A youth view
Bruno, a 19 year old student and a panellist at MediaTel’s latest Youth, Media and Technology event, gives an open and honest account of his media habits – his likes and dislikes – and reveals what he really spends his money on…
TV
I tend to watch TV in my free time – not when it airs live. I mostly watch television an hour after dinner or when I have a break from uni work. Part of the reason for this is because I do not have a TV licence as I am currently living in halls at university and I do not think it is worth the cost.
When watching TV online, I don’t mind watching adverts before and after the programme or film if it is free to watch, however I find adverts that disrupt programmes very annoying and because of this I am more likely to go onto BBC iPlayer rather than 4oD or ITV Player. I ignore ads mid-programme by either muting the audio or simply switching the browser to another page while the advert runs in the background.
I use my laptop to watch on-demand TV and if I want to lie on my bed I link it up by HDMI to the bigger screen TV I recently bought. The one exception to watching on-demand is sport. I hate to watch sport if it’s recorded as to me it has lost all the emotion and thrill, even if I still don’t know the final score. I go to the pub to watch most games on a big screen or my friends and I share one person’s Sky Go account, which has Sky Sports, and watch it on someone’s laptop or TV. If a game is not on Sky Sports or terrestrial television, it is never a problem as alternative (illegal) websites offer live streams of the matches. We do watch ads shown during the break, even if they are sometimes muted or drowned out by background chatter.
Mobile
I recently changed my phone and network provider as my old 24 month contract had run out. I swapped my old Nokia smartphone for a Blackberry as all my other friends owned one. Without a Blackberry I was being left out of some group chats within Blackberry Messenger, so this was a big factor in making me choose my next phone.
I decided on which phone I wanted by researching and reading online reviews and used a price comparison website to check for the cheapest company I could get it on. I felt no guilt in changing networks from Vodafone to O2 because I was able to save £5 a month. The extra add-ons I get from O2 priority moments are fine, but I could easily live without them. Data limits and the number of texts included in the contract were essential when I was looking for the best deal.
I tend to call people much less from my mobile and use Skype or WhatsApp for speaking to family both at home and abroad. My email is linked up to my phone so that I instantly receive them, however I never reply or email anyone back from my phone as I much prefer to do it on a computer. All in all I am reasonably happy with my current phone, however I would much prefer to have an Android because of the better apps. Unfortunately iPhones are way out of my budget.
Gaming
I used to play around two to three hours a day on PS3 (FIFA and Modern Warfare), especially online with friends. Now fewer of us have a console at university so my habits have changed to playing more offline with friends in the same room.
I find playing online games boring if I play on my own. I prefer to play long story based games such as Assassins Creed or Skyrim as you are able to engage with it more. Having said this, I tend not to buy these games as they quickly become obsolete once you have completed the game. I choose to rent these types of games from LoveFilm or borrow it from a friend once they have completed it.
Current in-game advertising and brand exposure is easily ignored. If brands were to disturb my gaming experience I would find this very annoying. I would also think that I was being ripped off if I was paying £45+ for a new game and then also having to sit through adverts. If games where cheaper and some form of related interactive advertising could be shown during loading screens or as a side to the main game, then this would not be a problem.
Music
I currently have £40 of iTunes vouches online linked to my account, which I have received over the past few years as gifts and birthday or Christmas presents – but the problem is I haven’t bought a film or music since I was about 12. It is too easy to find what you want online for free with one simple search.
I use HypeMachine and mp3 file sharing sites to find and download new music, as well as music shared by my friends on Facebook or simply word of mouth. I have, however, been to many gigs and festivals spending anywhere from £10 to £120 as the live experience is something that I will remember forever.
I used to own an iPod that I got for my birthday but it broke and haven’t bought another one as I don’t think it’s worth the money, particularly because I can use my phone for music. Although if I did have spare cash I would probably choose to buy another iPod.
Recently I have bought a very good set of Logitech speakers for £30 to enhance my music listening experience in my room. Once again I used a lot of online research and price comparison sites to find the cheapest retailer, which happened to be an independent eBay seller. One thing I can’t stand is audio adverts while I am listening to music; this is the main reason why I stopped using Spotify and don’t listen to the radio that much.
Social Media
I will always have Facebook ‘on’ in the background in one way or another, both on my laptop and mobile. I feel an immediate urge to check to see if I have a notification. I check Twitter if I am bored – if I have a quick five minutes to kill waiting at the bus stop or while having breakfast. I have started to follow news companies and journalists so it has also become a way of getting my news.
I think that Facebook has started to become clunky, messy and intrusive. I don’t particularly want to know what my friends are doing online in their free time, whether it is listening to music on Spotify, playing games or reading the news on The Guardian. I believe that this has come to be a way in which people judge others depending on what they choose to read and listen to. I also don’t like the fact that my parents and family members get to see my personal life and that my friends get to see my family life.
On Facebook I follow festivals and my favourite TV shows to get the latest information. I don’t feel that sports and clothes brands give me enough to be worth cluttering up my newsfeed.
Occasionally I will update my status with a video, or even a trailer or song, to let other people know about it and see their reaction. If I find something online that I want to share with a particular friend or group of friends then I will post the link on their Facebook wall. If there was a way to integrate a video, picture or website into a chat then I think this would be useful. I use Facebook mainly to organise my social life and to share pictures from nights out, not so much to chat with others.
What I do buy
Apart from food and the obvious, I like to save all my money for experiences – nights out, holidays, festivals, sports matches but also clothes and electronics. I would like to think that these memories will last with me forever, while some products you buy will quickly be outdated.
I very rarely go to the cinema and if I do it will be with a big group of friends and only if it’s a much-anticipated film. I’m also more tempted to go to the cinema if it is something that is worth seeing on a big screen, such as an action film. Films are quickly put online for the world to see.
I constantly receive emails for deals and offers but unless I need to buy something I ignore them. I wouldn’t buy something just because of a good deal, but if I were looking to buy something I would search for the best deal.