MTV decodes India youth

'Cool is being born to digital', according to the latest MTV International study, 'The state of cool'. The study tries to capture insights on today's Indian youth and about various factors which make youth tick..

Not surprisingly, SMS has been defined as the icon of this age. The youth is absolutely obsessed with their laptops, cell phones and online games. "Latest flicks are viewed on computers. Episodes of the latest sitcoms are downloaded even before they hit the airwaves. Content is the new social currency."

In digital, the other 'cool' sector is social networking sites. Some of the most popular sites amongst the Indian youth include Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, Hi-5, Big Adda, Flickr, YouTube, Blogger, Del.icio.us and Live Journal. According to the statistics, India has among the highest users of social networking sites in the world. At 83%, Indian youth are just behind Brazil at 84%.

 'Music on the move' is the latest buzzword for the Indian youth. The study throws light on some of the facts about the consumption of digital music in India. 51% of Indian youth are listening to more music now that it's digital and about 58% would like to replace their MP3 player with a music phone. However, television is still the most preferred way of consuming music, the report says.

It also gives some interesting numbers on young India's lifestyle. These include the average number of phone numbers on a mobile directory (119), names on IM Buddy list (70), people in their MySpace network or a similar site (142) and social networks they are part of (50).

However, all is not hunky dory with today's youth, according to the study. There is a 'dark side of the moon' which includes insecurities about competition, about the way they look and fear of rejection. Listening to music, watching TV and talking with friends are some of the mechanisms they use to cope up with their insecurities.