January 2010

Other names for the new decade, suggested in a recent survey of more than 2,000 Australian teenagers aged between 12 and 18 years, included: “the uncertainties” and the “tormenting teens.” The online research was conducted last week by the world’s largest virtual world for teens, Habbo Hotel. A combination of virtual world, game and social media site, Habbo Hotel has more than 4.4 million registered characters in Australia and more than 155 million worldwide.

Indepth research by Habbo Hotel into the attitudes and behavior of Generation Z suggests a more cautious, conservative and community-minded group of young adults is emerging, in contrast to the fame and fortune seeking Generation Y.[1]

“Generation Z is certainly emerging as more of a ‘we’ generation than the ‘me’ generation,, said Jeff Brookes Regional Director Asia Pacific, Sulake (Sulake owns Habbo Hotel). “On the whole, they have a strong sense of community and social justice values, and they tend to see through the superficial fairly quickly. For example, they are more likely to see their parents as role models, rather than celebrities or sporting stars. They also regard fairness and the absence of discrimination in the workplace as more important than money or status.

“Despite a high level of concern around issues such as the sustainability of the environment, they are showing up as cautiously optimistic overall,” he said.

• Generation Z’s most popular goal for 2010 is “just being happy.” Also on the New Year’s list were resolutions around friendships, fitness and school performance. The classic New Year’s resolutions around: weight, romance and money were much lower down the list.
• Most teens summed up 2009 as “a year full of surprises.” However, any doom and gloom outlook caused by the global financial crisis was absent from teens responses with only 6% calling it “a sad year.” More teens claimed it was their “best year ever” (11%) than 4% classifying it as their “worst year ever” (4%). “a difficult year” (15%) as those who claimed it was “a fun year.”
  
• The majority of teens (31%) said they are excited about 2010 with 23% saying they will “just wait and see” what the year holds for them and 19% saying they weren’t sure what to expect. 15% of teens surveyed said they were nervous about 2010.

Environmental issues:

• 81% of teens say they are concerned about the environment
• Almost one third claim they’re more worried about global warming than their parents
• Only 11% are happy about the job world leaders are doing about global warming issues; 20% are happy with the job the Australian political leaders are doing
• 90% of teens believe Australia should be investing in renewable technologies
• 85% believe they could personally be doing more to help the environment.

• More than half (51%) of teens under 18 said they would be interested in voting and having their say, 6% were unsure and only 13% said no they would not be interested in voting. A further 27% said they wanted to vote – but only when they turn 18 years old.
• Almost 66% of Australia’s teens say they are interested in politics.
• Half (50%) of Australia’s teens say they will make independent choices about who they vote for – without the influence of their parents. 22% say they haven’t decided whether they will follow their parents voting habits, and 10% say they don’t know who their parents vote for.

Teenglish – Habbo’s top 25 Buzz teenglish words for 2009:

1. diss – Disrespect
2. fail – Either to show disapproval for something or when someone does fail at something. Sometimes spelt with a “ph” and “epic fail” (or “epic phail”) is the highest form of failing.
3. ftw – For the win, used to show enthusiasm for something i.e kittens FTW
4. hai – Hi
5. idc – I don’t care
6. idk – I don’t know
7. ily – love you
8. irl – In real life
9. jks – Jokes
10. k or kk – Ok
11. meh – Indifference, couldn’t care less
12. noob – A new person, newbie but often used to make fun of anyone they don’t like
13. pwn, pwned, pwnage – To own someone, beat them at a game or when someone has been taught a lesson.
14. plz – Please
15. props – Proper respect
16. rents, rentz or rentals – Parents
17. rofl – Roll on the floor laughing
18. soz – Sorry
19. srs – Serious, seriously
20. sup – What’s up? What’s happening? (Normally used: “hey sup”)
21. tbh – To be honest
22. totes – Totally
23. ty – Thank you
24. w.e – Whatever
25. zomg – Something even more amazing or shocking than omg

[1] Comprehensive online research on thousands of teens in Australia and around the world demonstrates there is a sub generation of youths with markedly different characteristics and value systems to that of their Gen Y predecessors. The findings are part of nine separate surveys, each of which included an average of 2,000 participants aged 12 to 18 years‐old undertaken by Habbo Hotel during 2009. The research was conducted by Habbo Hotel Australia and developed and analysed by Launch Group.