Senior Snapshot

By Annette McLoughlin

As we get ready to start the school year, I thought it might be fun to put together a lifestyle snapshot of our seniors: their social media preferences, fall plans, and what they’re most looking forward to next year. I proposed the idea to my daughter and a few of her friends (all seniors) at our kitchen counter the other night and, within 24 hours, I had seven pie charts from a survey they posted on their class of 2018 Facebook page. The sample size is not huge, but respectable, as roughly a third of the class participated. I really loved the interest, industry, and work ethic my statisticians/researchers showed in getting this done quickly and efficiently. I sense a great future in consulting for them.

The Rye High School class of 2018’s summer binge-watching (emphasis on summer, as it will <surely> subside with the start of school) they go for drama. Like the rest of us, “Game of Thrones” is topping their list, followed by the emergency room drama of “Grey’s Anatomy” (can we hope for some career inspiration here?) and Riverdale, which is the modern-day version of “Archie” (as in Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead!) I was surprised that “Friends” and “The Office” were missing from this list, as they are also often the background noise in my house.

<<Favorite Show to Binge-Watch>> (74 responses)

“Game of Thrones” 35.1%

“Grey’s Anatomy” 28.4%

“Riverdale” 18.9%

“Shameless” 17.6%

The most interesting thing about their music streaming app choices to me is the total absence of Pandora, which leads the audio streaming industry in the U.S. If these numbers reflect general teenage music-listening trends, it’s not good news for Pandora.

<<Favorite Place to Listen to Music>> (81 responses)

Spotify 67.9%

SoundCloud 25.9%

YouTube 6.2%

Their go-to apps do not include the mother of all social media, Facebook. What I found interesting is the fact that (according to a statistic-compiling website called statista.com) Facebook use among 13- to 24-year-olds is ranked second after Snapchat and slightly higher than Instagram. However – this is the interesting part — when surveying only those in their teens, Facebook completely disappears from their top preferences, and their list mimics ours. #timesarechanging #theyarenotus #whatwillthefuturebring

<<Favorite App>> (82 responses)

Snapchat 57.3 %

Instagram 37.8 %

Twitter 4.9%

They don’t really do a lot of consistent purchasing yet, so of course, their top favorite sites are bound to be entertainment (though again, no Facebook.) That the RHS site for checking grades popped up was interesting. Let’s hope that the 4% starts to take up a lot more share from the binge-watching sites around mid-September. I’m fairly confident that there’s an inverse relationship between those media site numbers and our senior’s GPA’s.

<<Favorite Website>> (82 responses)

Netflix 74.4%

YouTube 19.5%

RHS Parent Portal 4%

Hulu 2.1 %

Local flavor; something my researchers wanted to know was, who was eating where. Jerry’s cutlets top the charts. Impressive is the fact that Hand Rolled Bagels was favored by almost a quarter of those surveyed, despite the time commitment required to get behind an everything with chive; between the parking challenges and the lines that often spill out the door, this stop can easily cost you 30 minutes.

<<Favorite Place to Eat in Rye>> (82 responses)

Jerry’s 61%

Hand Rolled Bagels 22%

Dock Deli 9.7%

Cornerstone 7.3%

Also of great interest to my eager, home-brewed staff is the anticipation for senior year traditions. They cannot wait to flaunt their Garnet pride this fall during Spirit Week and the pep rally. Go Garnets!

<<Favorite Rye High Traditions>> (78 responses)

Spirit Week 37.2%

Pep Rally 26.9%

St. Patrick’s Day 26.9%

Halloween 9%

That classic of American high school traditions, football, easily steals the show for the beginning of the school year. If we had asked about which game they were specifically looking forward to the most, I have a hunch I know the answer. Again, Go Garnets!

<<What are you most looking forward to this fall?>> (81 responses)

Football Games 66.7%

Halloween 16%

Thanksgiving 13.6%

Apple Picking 3.7%

That concludes our little study. I would love to give credit to my staff by name, but my gut sense (honed over the past several years of parenting teenagers) says that that would prefer to remain nameless. You know who you are and I thank you.