SAN JOSE, CA – Demonstrating the increasing role of the network in people’s lives, an international workforce study announced Wednesday by Cisco found that one in three college students and young professionals considers the Internet to be as important as fundamental human resources like air, water, food and shelter.
The 2011 Cisco Connected World Technology Report also revealed that more than half of the study’s 2800 respondents say they could not live without the Internet, and cite it as an “integral part of their lives” – in some cases more important than cars, dating, and partying.
Based on surveys of college students and professionals aged 30 years old and younger in 14 countries, including Canada, the report offers insight into present-day challenges that companies face as they strive to balance current and future employee and business needs amid increasing mobility capabilities, security risks, and technologies that can deliver information more ubiquitously – from virtualized data centers and cloud computing to traditional wired and wireless networks.
Other key findings include:
– 19% of Canadian students and 16% of Canadian employees said that the Internet is a fundamental resource for the human race, akin to air, water, food and shelter. About half (58% of students and 47% of employees) say that they believe that it is “pretty close” to that level of importance;
– 78% of Canadian students and 58% of employees in Canada cite a mobile device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) as “the most important technology in their lives”;
– Television’s prominence is decreasing among students and young employees in favour of mobile devices like laptops and smartphones. Fewer than one in 10 Canadian students (5%) and employees (9%) said the TV is the most important technology device in their daily lives. As TV programming and movies become available on mobile devices, this downward trend is expected to continue;
– In a sign that the boundary between work and personal lives is becoming thinner, 69% of Canadian employees ‘friended’ their managers and/or co-workers on Facebook. Of employees who use Twitter, 36% follow the Twitter activity of either their manager or colleagues. Three of four (75%) of employees in Canada do not have a Twitter page.
“The Internet continues to dramatically change the way we live, work, play and learn, and for many has become a basic necessity of everyday life”, said Jeff Seifert, chief technology officer for Cisco Canada, in the report’s news release. “Young Canadians, in particular, have become increasingly attached to mobile devices such as laptops and smartphones and the ability to access online content anywhere, anytime, from any device, whether for social or business reasons. The Cisco Connected World Technology Report provides valuable insight into the behaviour and thought patterns of these students and young professionals and how they are using this technology to blend their work and personal lives.”
