Teenage consumption of information and communication technology

Kirsten Gram-Hanssen, Danish Building Research Institute

Keywords

Household electricity consumption, Consumer behaviour, Consumer theory, Teenagers, Information and Communication Technology

Abstract

A Danish database with data from 50 000 households, their energy consumption combined with building characteristics and the socio-economic data on their inhabitants documents that one teenager in a household entails a 20 % higher electricity consumption than that of an average adult. These data will be presented as an introduction to the paper. There are however also other reasons for being interested in the consumer behaviour of teenagers. On the one hand teenagers are the adult consumers of tomorrow and some of their energy consuming behaviour may follow them throughout their life. On the other hand teenagers as consumers are known from other studies to be a special consumer group in that they are very much aware of and sensitive to the opinions and behaviour of their peer-groups. Departing from these reflections, a qualitative interview investigation with a focus on families with teenagers was carried out. In-depth interviews with nine parents and their teenagers focused on how teenagers use and purchase information and communication technology (ICT) such as televisions, mobile phones, computers etc. The paper reports on the qualitative findings on the dynamics of consumption among teenagers' ICT use. The analyses draw on recent consumer theory and discuss in the conclusion how such findings can give new directions for energy policies.