Generation Z Prefers Video Games To Watching TV And Movies

A new Deloitte Digital Media Trends survey is showing that Generation Z consumers in the United States (those currently between the ages of 14 and 24) are continuing a long-established trend of younger Americans losing interest in or placing less of a priority on watching TV, with 26% of those polled saying they prefer video games to anything else in their media consumption habits. A staggering 87% in that age bracket also say they play video games daily or weekly.

When asked to rank their preferred entertainment activities, respondents placed video games in the No. 1 slot, while watching TV or movies at home ranks in at fifth. According to Deloitte, only 10% of Gen Z respondents said watching TV or movies was their favorite entertainment pastime--whereas for every other age group, it remains the top pick, including among millennials (18%), Gen Xers (29%), and boomers (39%).

According to Variety, the prevailing wisdom and expectation on these trends was that millennials would "age out" of their interest in video games as they got older, and resemble their elders. Instead, that never quite happened--and there's little reason to expect that Gen Z willow follow suit.

Although the data was gathered transparently allowing for and exploring the pandemic's impact, it's still anyone's guess how quarantine hopefully ending in the near future may further change any of the reported data. And although the survey doesn't explicitly say this, odds are if you find this report upsetting or disturbing in anyway--congratulations, you are officially old.