• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, May 11, 2015

For generations, it was the elders of our tribe who warned against the youngsters watching too much TV. For my generation, we were warned it would ruin our eyes. For my daughter's generation, we were just afraid that TV would ruin their brains. Or, worse, our reputation, since responsible parents would never ever use the TV as a baby sitter. Not us. 

Somehow history and technology has caused an ironic switch. Now it is the kids leading the rest of us away from the TV set. Wait, did they find out that it is really radioactive after all? Because, you know, they read a lot of stuff on the Internet.   

No, all this generation has discovered is that concept of "TV" as both a device and a ritual is simply irrelevant. 

At some point in the next five or six years, a certain segment of our population will cock their heads in wonder when we ask them the age-old question, “What’s on TV tonight?” For the so-called ”trailing millennials” aged 14-24, the whole notion of a dominant screen, let along appointment viewing. will be a true relic.

One of the most striking metrics from this year’s Deloitte Digital Democracy report on the state of digital media usage is that this youngest polled group now spends only 43% of their time watching TV shows on an actual TV screen, while 41% are watching on laptops and PCs. For them, the tipping point is here. TV is not “TV” anymore.

And even the older Millennials only spend 57% of their TV viewing time using the larger screen, with the rest of their viewing spent on tablets and phones. The generational shift is tectonic when you consider than even among Gen-X, 70% of their TV time is spent with a TV. For the youngest group, time-shifting is the new normal, since only 28% of their time with TV content is with live programming.

It is not surprising then that the Trailing Millennials placed their streaming video subscription among their top three most important services at a much higher rate (72%) than older users, while only 58% put their pay TV service among the top three. Cable and satellite providers, be warned. These kids are not cutting the cord. Many of them are just oblivious to the cord’s necessity.

Interestingly, this group of sub-25-year-olds puts their gaming subscriptions as a higher priority than their cable TV service. By the way, when we ask what the younger generation is actually doing on their TV sets, gaming is the likely answer. It is for many of them the biggest competition for TV time.

It is also important to note that despite their reputation as mobile-first, younger viewers of TV and movie content are not spending much more time than older users on mobile For instance, only about 16% of the youngest segment’s TV show viewing is occurring on either tablet or smartphone, not that much more than the 26-31 segment (15%) or even Gen-Xers (11%). When it comes to video media consumption, the laptop remains the best compromise screen for size and portability.

But the youngest media consumers clearly are separating from the tribal totem (TV sets) and rituals (live prime time).

This generation’s answer to the “What’s on TV tonight?” question is “Huh? Whatever you want to be on. Duh.”