Mobile Posse, the technology innovator that turns telecom companies into mobile media leaders, in conjunction with Phoenix Marketing International today released mobile data collected in October that compares Gen Z, Millennial and Baby Boomer mobile usage behaviors, which will help wireless carriers, OEMs and marketers gain insight into the habits and interests of mobile users.

Overall, the research found that the race to win consumer mobile attention begins first thing in the morning when users are often times checking their devices before they get out of bed and have no particular app in mind, which is in line with earlier findings. At the start of the day, mobile users are increasingly using their phones as a utility (for instance, to find out the weather forecast), seek out news or to start connecting with friends.

Specific findings include:

  • 20% of Gen Z want to get news from their social feed compared to only 3.8% of Baby Boomers
  • 31.7% of Gen Z users identify as getting most of their news from social as compared to 30% of Millennials and 6.2% of Baby Boomers
  • 31.7% of Gen Z users want to see something entertaining versus 21.2% of Millennials and only 16.9% of Baby Boomers
  • Gen Z are 11% more likely to express they’d want to use their phone first to find something happy than to find the weather. Boomers are 48% more likely to say they would rather use their phone to learn the weather than to find something to make them happy.
  • 77.5% of Gen Z users want to start their day connecting with friends as opposed to only 38.4% of Baby Boomers. 61.5% of Baby Boomers have neutral or no interest in connecting with friends at the start of their day
  • 65% of Gen Z users check their phones while they are still in bed, and 9 out of 10 of Gen Z users will check their phones before they leave their bedrooms in the morning. 20.8% of Baby Boomers will not check their phones until they receive a call or notification. 7.4% of Millennials will first use their phones in the morning in the bathroom. Only 13.1% of Baby Boomers will first check their phones while still in bed
  • Men are 38% more likely than women to say that compared to last year, they are less interested in reading news in the morning

A few areas brought different generations together. These include:

  • 59% of all mobile users don’t have an app in mind most of the time when they first unlock their phones in the morning
  • Today, across all ages, 1 in 4 mobile users state that today’s news makes the depressed
  • Overall compared to last year, 17.5% of mobile users say they are less interested in reading news in the morning on their phones. This is 20% higher than the amount of users saying they are more interested in reading news in the morning on their phones
  • Mobile users favor content about local news versus national news (with 60.5% of users having interest in seeing local news and 57% having interest in national news) the first time they use their phone in the day