Follow a college student's real day!

Mika Kifuse

#Marketing#Insights/Research#Insight#young people#college student#Survey

Dentsu Inc. conducted a diary study involving 19 university students over approximately one year as an industry-academia collaborative project with the Fujita Yuko Seminar at Meiji University's School of Business and Commerce. We analyzed the data together with the seminar students, researching the relationship between young people's lives and media in modern society. Over the next three installments, we will reveal the "real-life habits of university students" gleaned from this diary study, incorporating insights gained from our joint research.

First, in Part 1, I, Mika Kibuse, will introduce the real daily routines of two university students while explaining, as a researcher, the characteristics commonly seen among recent university students.

Case 1: A Day in the Life of a College Student – Ms. A's Case

Before heading to work, my mom and dad and I watched a commercial featuring Ayano Go and Buruzon Chiemi as siblings, and we started debating what product it was for. Apparently, my family watches a lot of mobile phone commercials, and I often talk with my mom about Justin Bieber commercials. By the way, my mom likes Justin and listens to him a lot, but I'm just so-so about him.

I enjoy hearing about Senior X's life: how they bike to work, how they got off at every station on the Toyoko Line to find great shops, how they wake up at 7 AM every morning to run and stop by a coffee shop, how they only have 8 apps on their phone, and the photos they take with their film camera. I always think they're the kind of person I want to emulate.

This day was the priority ticket sale for ULTRA JAPAN in September. Since it started at 10 PM, I absolutely needed to leave work early, so I set my Apple Watch alarm for 9:55 PM. I was really pumped because my long-distance boyfriend had decided to come to Japan and we were going together.

Researcher's Notes

As seen in note ①, today's college students often have close family relationships and active communication within their families. They frequently chat in LINE group chats and go on family trips. It's clear they value family communication even during busy morning hours.

Recent college students tend to look up to people close to them—rather than celebrities or models—as role models for fashion and lifestyle. Ms. A herself was influenced by her senior, X. This is a perfect example of C to C communication. Incidentally, another characteristic of today's college students is that they interact with the opposite sex without much conscious thought. They enjoy going out to eat or traveling together in a completely casual, equal manner.

Last year, the term "Instagrammable" won the Buzzword of the Year award, and indeed, motivation for photogenic moments and unique experiences remains high. Tickets for popular festivals and events consistently sell out, so they approach securing tickets with meticulous preparation.

Talking with recent college students, I often feel they live very efficiently. Rather than setting lofty goals, they find satisfaction more easily by setting achievable, immediate ones. They seem to think that even if they aren't doing anything special day-to-day, "participating in events when it counts gives them a sense of fulfillment." Regarding their relationship with their parents, they may also realize at an early age that "getting along is better than rebelling."

Case 2: A Day in the Life of a College Student - Ms. B's Case

From 9:30 PM yesterday, I worked with friend X in my room on a stop-motion video to insert into the ending of our independent film. Friend X seemed to have mostly fallen asleep partway through, so I worked silently by myself for the latter half. It's meticulous work, but I don't dislike the detailed tasks themselves and felt it suited me quite well.

Friend X started preparing for a seminar presentation. When they came to my room, they mentioned wanting to use KH Coder, which I had mentioned before. I decided to help them prepare, also using it as practice for myself. I have a habit of playing my favorite music nonstop on my computer while working on something, so I was streaming my favorite music on Spotify at that time too.

※KH Coder… Free software for quantitative analysis of text-based data and text mining

I called Friend Y to wish them a happy birthday. Friend Y was about to head to their part-time job, and since that job was within walking distance from the park, Friend X and I decided to go meet them there. Since the job started at 11 PM, we decided to kill some time drinking at the park until then.

～～～～～Omitted～～～～～

We celebrated his birthday in person and filmed Y at work. We talked about hanging out together, but since there was still time until his break, T and I headed to the Saizeriya on another floor.

《Researcher's Notes》

Some readers might be surprised by the description in note①. College students' "creative activities" are gaining attention, with topics like student filmmakers and student creators becoming popular. The ability to take beautiful photos and professional-quality videos with smartphones has dramatically expanded the range of expression. Along with this, a "desire to create" is on the rise among recent college students. Beyond just videos and photos, more young people are making accessories and goods and launching their own brands. In this diary survey, we also received photos taken by the university students themselves, and we were amazed by the high quality of those photos.

As self-expression becomes more active, it's clear that more university students are mastering various tools. This student, B, is also attempting data analysis using specialized analytical tools. Indeed, the digital native generation seems to have little resistance to technology, easily mastering tools that might initially appear difficult.

"While communication tools like SNS have developed, making digital communication more active, another recent trend among university students is valuing real-life events. B-san, for example, went out of their way to visit a friend's part-time job to celebrate their birthday and even wanted to hang out after the shift ended. I think valuing real-life events is a reaction to the development of digital communication.

The student B introduced here lives with diverse interests and effectively utilizes an environment that allows her to turn those interests into reality. She values communication with friends and gives the impression of truly enjoying her youth.

This time, we examined the real-life days of two university students to explain characteristics and trends seen in young people today. To delve into the often-hard-to-grasp information behaviors of university students, we will continue sharing findings from diary surveys. Next time, we'll explore university students' "search skills" utilizing smartphones.