Santino meets Robson: Showdown of the Wonder Boys

When Santino speaks, the Filipino nation listens. Every suggestion or statement he makes, regardless of its veracity and basis, seems to be jurisprudence- the lives of the Pinoys change its courses of action in adherence to such. The phenom's incessant meddling into the affairs of the adults astoundingly receives positive responses. Not only is he revered, but the world seemingly revolves around him. Simply put, such fictional character draws the attention of millions of devout Filipino Catholics- with minimal effort.

A similar phenomenon exists at the other end of the world. This time, it is a reality.

On July 13, 2009, the lives of an ample number of middle-aged media executives and investors reached an unexpected turning point when Financial Times published on the front page of its issue a research report written by 15-year-old Matthew Robson detailing today's teenage internet and media usage habits. Deficient on evidence yet profuse on declarative sentences, the memorandum of the Morgan Stanley intern includes the following findings:

• Teenagers find Twitter useless.
• Teenagers are using more and more media, but remain unwilling to pay for it.
• Traditional media – television, radio and newspapers – are losing ground.
• Advertisements on websites – pop-ups and banner ads – are extremely annoying and pointless.
• Teenagers support and enjoy viral advertisements, finding them humorous and interesting.
• Money and time are instead devoted to cinema, concerts and video game consoles.
• Downloading films off the internet is not popular as the films are usually bad quality and have to be watched on a small computer screen and there is a risk of viruses.
  

Indeed, such uncorroborated findings (a.k.a. opinions) generated a flurry of interest from people of different generations. The 15-year-old “expert” has been blogged on, twittered about and discussed earnestly in investment offices and boardrooms. The press has tendered money for his story. Certainly, it is a worthwhile summer internship experience for an adolescent aged 15 years and 7 months.

Perhaps, the hype of the report to mainstream media outlets can be elucidated by the so-called knowledge-abundance model in relation to the “digital immigrant-digital native” concept. Indeed, despite the abundance of knowledge and the ubiquity of its access, the ability to sift through the information is scarce. Older adults (“digital immigrants”), who by and large feel overwhelmed with media messages, are vigilant for anyone who would come out to convey intelligently sifted information with a display of confidence and credibility. The younger populace (“digital natives”), who are more adaptive and more competent of living with ease in a high-stimulus media milieu, make social media appear very simple- that people who ought to know better will absorb and be easily swayed by every statement pronounced by the younger generation.

As we live in a world of imperfect information, we tend to rely on people who promise to shed light and remove the confusion from the public. But how certain are we that these people are not in fact just as perplexed as everyone else?