Only 29% of Millennials See TV Sets as a Necessity

Especially on the heels of the annual Beloit College Mindset List, which is well-intentioned if largely out-of-touch in trying to track societal changes, I found this article from eMarketer (citing data from Pew Research Center) to be rather interesting.

Through two separate charts, the article conveys what people 18+ view as essential items ("car" topped the list; at bottom "flat screen TV" trailed things like "home computer" and "microwave"; most notable to me was that "landline phone" tops "mobile phone," 62% to 47%) and a bit more compellingly, the differences between Millennials (age 18-29) and Seniors (65+) in which electronics and services they consider necessities.

I'm not too shocked by the large disparities; they seem to fit common assumptions about the older and younger generations. More surprising to me are some of the actual numbers; it seems low that only 59% of Millennials see "Mobile Phone" as a necessity, while 46% of them still value landline phones (I'm well-beyond the demographic and get by just fine with only an iPhone).

And while I know that TV programming can now be watched on computers, cell phones, iPads, etc., I'm amazed that just 29% of Millennials think having a "TV Set" is a necessity and even that barely more than half of Seniors polled think so as well. Aren't they the generation Timothy Leary told to "Turn on, tune in..."? Guess they decided to "drop out" once Reality TV nonsense became the norm.