China's internet users discover new freedoms

Tom Doctoroff

In a comparison between young internet users in China and the US, a survey - the young digital mavens - by JWT and IAC discovers that the internet is much more integrated part of the life in China than in the US.

The findings show how readily young Chinese are taking to the Internet and its possibilities-for example, almost five times as many Chinese as American respondents said they have a parallel life online (61 percent vs. 13 percent). And while fewer than half of the 1,079 American respondents agreed that "I live some of my life online" (42 percent), a sizable majority of the 1,104 Chinese respondents agreed with the statement (86 percent). The two random online surveys polled 16- to 25-year-olds.

Other findings on the Chinese users:

• For 80 percent of the respondents "digital technology is an essential part of how I live" (US: 68 percent);
• 25 percent does not feel OK when they are without internet access for longer than a day (US: 12 percent);
• 42 percent feels sometimes "addicted" to the online life (US: 18 percent);
• 48 percent feels that things online are more intense than offline (US: 12 percent);
• 61 percent has felt strong emotions because of online interactions (US: 47 percent);
• 51 percent of the Chinese internet users have presented themselves online as somebody else (US: 17 percent);
• 66 percent says "Online interactions have broadened my sense of identity" (US: 26 percent);
• 77 percent says that internet helps making friends (US: 30 percent);
• 32 percent admits that the internet has broadened their sex life (US: 11 percent);
• 73 percent goes online to share opinions with others (US: 43 percent);
• 79 percent thinks it is good to be able to express opinions anonymously (US: 42 percent)

"For young Americans, the Internet provides an incremental increase in the huge range of options they enjoy in life, but for young Chinese it represents a steep increase in choice-and this is reflected in the strength of Chinese response to questions about opinions and interactions online," says Tom Doctoroff, JWT's CEO of Greater China and Northeast Asia area director. While most American youth grew up taking for granted both interactive technology and the "let it all hang out" ethos it has encouraged, these are new concepts for young Chinese. "Our findings show that Chinese youth experience this new emotional space-the 'emobytes'-more intensely than young Americans."

Tom Doctoroff is also a speaker at our Chinabiz Speakers' bureau.