Breaking Down The Millennial Generation: A typology of young news consumers

New research suggests that Millennials’ news and internet habits fall into four distinct types:

1. The Unattached: These are younger Millennials, age 18-24, who get their news and information mostly by just bumping into it. They tend to have not yet started families or established careers. Their online lives are spent largely keeping up with their social circles, schooling, or first-time job hunts. Less than 1 in 3 personally pay for a digital or print news subscription, and the more conventional news subjects like community or world news are not a central interest to their daily lives. Few of them follow current events or news-you-can-use. Most go online primarily for entertainment activities such as playing games or streaming music and movies. Still, news is not completely irrelevant to this group. Half of this group still keeps up generally with what is going on in the world, and many investigate opinions contrary to their own on social media.
2. The Explorers: These are younger Millennials, also age 18-24, who actively seek out news and information. These Millennials are relatively similar demographically to the Unattached (i.e., they have not yet developed families or careers), but this group consists of slightly more men than women. They are highly connected (97 percent have smartphones), and they are interested in news and are more active in pursuing it online. These Millennials follow a variety of current events and news-you-can-use topics. They are motivated by their belief in the social and civic benefits of following news, and they use the internet and social media to both gather information and connect with others.
3. The Distracted: These are older Millennials, age 25-34, who have begun to have families and are part of the middle class. They tend not to use news or information for civic or social purposes. They mostly bump into news and information rather than actively seek it out, and a majority do not personally pay for a news subscription. They also tend to get less news and information online and from social media in general than other Millennials; though still, nearly half of these Millennials get most of their news and information online, and many follow a variety of lifestyle and news-you-can use topics that show direct relevance to their jobs, their families, or solving problems in their personal lives.
4. The Activists: This is another group of mostly older Millennials, age 25-34, but Activists, unlike the Distracted, are more likely to actively seek out news and information. These Millennials tend to have already established families, careers, and a connection to their community. They are racially and ethnically diverse—the only group that is a majority non-white. They have acquired enough experience in the world to care about certain issues, and enough stability in life to spend energy on those issues. A majority of these Millennials personally pay for a digital or print news subscription, and they are likely to follow current events and report using the news for civic reasons. They get news online but are less likely than other Millennials to frequently use the internet for social or entertainment purposes.