Young people are optimistic about technology but ask for advances in health and environmental protection, according to a study

MADRID, September 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Young people are optimistic about technology but ask for clear advances in health and environmental protection, according to the results of the Barometer ‘Youth and technological expectation, presented this September 23 at an online event organized by Fad, Google and BBVA.

Thus, the study points out that young Spaniards aged 15 to 29 are mostly “techno-optimistic” (35.4%) and believe in the opportunities that technology will offer them in the future, considering its advantages greater than their drawbacks. Around 20.9% think otherwise and 27% indicate that the advantages and disadvantages are balanced.

For this reason, young people trust in the technological future with a perception about the future that is based between optimism –curiosity (35.8%), hope (29.3%), motivation (27.7%) – and uncertainty (26.3%). “Anxiety” about the future is higher among women, while “tranquility” and “happiness” are comparatively more frequent emotions in men.

On the other hand, more than half of those surveyed indicate that the technological developments considered most necessary have to do with health. Thus, 56.4% of young men and 46.6% of young women believe that technology is needed for better diagnosis, intervention and treatment of diseases and ailments, as well as for care. The percentages decrease when they are asked about the probability of these developments, with 39% of girls and 29.8% of boys who see it as probable.

The same is true of developments that would make environmental sustainability possible: 40.5% of those surveyed believe that technology could help generate and conserve natural resources, but only 20.7% believe that it will. .

This Barometer has been carried out through an online panel in which 1,200 adolescents and young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were asked. The sample was taken in March of this year 2020.

The study also collects perceptions regarding how future transformations in technology will affect leisure time, training and working life. Thus, 62.6% consider that it will create more variety in leisure offers; 57.9% that will make studying more fun and easier (56.4%); and 51.3% believe that it will make work more creative.

Regarding work, there are also critical segments, as 41.2% consider that with the digital transformation of work, more jobs will be lost than those generated and 32.8% affirm that job insecurity will increase. Women and people between the ages of 25 and 29 are generally more pessimistic about the employment consequences of digitization, but they are also more aware of the need for work centers to be involved in the job training of their employees .

Almost half of young people agree on the necessary involvement of work centers in the digital training of their workers since 43.8% consider that formal education does not provide the necessary technological skills.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

On the other hand, there is an interest in starting a professional career in the field of technologies (computing, robotics, cybersecurity, application development, industrial or mechanical engineering, systems engineering, biotechnology, etc.): more than a third of young people (35.8%) would like to start a professional career in this sector, 14.7% have already started it, slightly less than a third (28.8%) indicate that perhaps they would and 15.3% they are sure they would not initiate it. Women and younger people show less interest in these tech careers.

The attraction for a professional career in the field of communication mediated by technology (influencer, youtuber, community manager, etc.) is also high. 38.4% would like to have a professional career in this sector, 9.3% have already started it, 27.9% indicate that perhaps they would do it and 18.5% indicate that they surely would not.

Men have started careers in technology-mediated communication more frequently than women, but women would more like to start them and, by age, this sector is more frequent between 15 and 19 years, but attracts more young people between 25 and 29 years old.

The third Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño; the director of Public Policies of Spain, Antonio Vargas; the global director of Responsible Business at BBVA, Antoni Ballabriga; the president of Fad, Ignacio Bayón; and the general director of Fad, Beatriz Martín Padura. The Barometer data have been presented by the deputy director of the Reina Sofía Center on Adolescence and Youth of Fad, Anna Sanmartín. The event was conducted by the TVE journalist, Ana Blanco.

According to Amparo Lasén, one of the report’s authors, “this barometer reflects a climate of uncertainty that young people face with strategic optimism, and vital conditions regarding the future and technological developments that affect them ambivalently.”
In this way, there is considerable agreement between the personal areas in which young people would like technology to help them and in which they believe that it will actually help them: training, health care and the search and choice of job.

The ‘Youth and technological expectation’ Barometer, promoted by Google and Fad, aims to be the first of the Youth and Technology Observatory, which will provide biannual data on this fundamental variable to understand youth development.

The topics that will occupy this Observatory will revolve around the impact of technology on youth development, providing periodic data on the balance between optimism and uncertainty, digital gaps, self-training, the role of the school in digital literacy, transformation digital employment and digital skills necessary for job placement, among others.