Wendy Trantham doesn’t consider herself a TV person, but when the 19-year-old wants to catch up on a show, she does it the old-fashioned way: in front of her television set.
A new study by consulting firm Deloitte shows that Trantham, a UF exploratory freshman, is in the minority for her generation.
Millennials, the generation represented by ages 14 to 24, spend only 44 percent of their time watching movies and shows using a TV.
The rest of the time is spent watching media on a computer, smartphone, tablet or gaming device. Computers lead as device of choice at 32 percent.
The study also shows that the older a generation is, the more time it spends watching TV.
People part of the generation labeled as “matures,” ages 67 and older, watch TV 92 percent of the time they want to watch a show or movie.
Dennis Frohlich, a third-year UF health communications doctoral student and instructor for The Cultural Impact of Video Games, said the results are not surprising.
When it comes to where viewers consume media, there’s a generational gap because older people are more likely to stick to what they know, and young people want options, he said.
Millennials may also be more inclined to watch movies and shows online because of cost benefits.
“A cable bill on top of a cellphone bill and other utilities can add up to be a lot for a college student,” Frohlich said.
In the coming years, online streaming providers will try different things, such as recently releasing series entirely on the web, he said. With an increased interest in alternative ways to consume media, there will continue to be plenty of room for experimentation.
Reed Jostes, a Santa Fe College family, youth and community freshman, said he doesn’t make it a priority to watch a show when it first airs on TV.
“I’ll make sure to get my school work done first,” Jostes, 19, said.
Matthew Paymer, a 22-year-old UF environmental engineering senior, said he hardly watches television.
“When I absolutely have to watch something, I normally go online to do it,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 4/3/2014 under the headline "Study: Millennials watching less TV"]
Tyler Ritz, a 19-year-old UF aerospace engineering sophomore, watches the History Channel’s “American Pickers” in his first-floor Simpson Hall room Wednesday afternoon. A recent study by consulting firm Deloitte found that millennials watch less TV than older people do.
