In a typical month, Gen X adults, that is, those born between 1960 and 1980, have 75 contacts or face-to-face conversations, compared to about 74 electronic contacts through emails or social networks, according to the report “The Generation X Report”, produced by the University of Michigan (USA).
“TheYoung adults in Generation X currently maintain a healthy balance between personal and social contacts“explains Jon D. Millar, author of the report, who does not rule out that in the future electronic contacts will exceed” face-to-face “interactions.
Overall, in the course of a typical month, participants indicated that they had visited with family and friends eight times, had met or had personal conversations with their coworkers almost 60 times, had attended social group meetings, or had community workers four times, and had been involved in about three hours of volunteer work.
Regarding electronic networks, women were slightly more active, with the initiation of 76 contacts compared to 71 for men. Overall, the participants had sent 39 non-work related emails per month, accessed Facebook nearly 23 times, used Twitter four times, Skype once, and sent digital photos seven times.
In addition to finding rough parity between personal and electronic networks, Millar identified that young adults who have completed bachelor’s or advanced degrees tend to have more extensive social networks.
Millar also assures that the study of Generation X social networks is important because those networks, sometimes described as “social capital”, are a vital component of the quality of life. Among other things because, according to the researcher,the size and composition of personal networks is an indicator of the resources available to “get ahead and deal with problems or obstacles that may arise”said Millar.
Â
