Jesse Yarbrough, 15, and his friend, Micah McCullough, 14, are tuned in to the latest electronic gizmos.
Although they are in that awkward stage-too young to drive but too old to think of Barney the Dinosaur as cool-they’re savvy consumers of electronics and often influence which big-ticket items their families buy.
Like most teenagers with lots of disposable income (thanks to their parents), the two spend $20 to $30 a month on entertainment, which includes video game cartridge rentals and arcade games at the local mall.
When they’re not hanging out at the mall, they’re often at their Memphis homes, poring over magazines about electronic games and computers, keeping up-to-date on the latest in high tech.
Jesse and Micah say they’re more concerned with the performance of the electronic gadgets they own and aren’t partial to any particular brands, although both seem to lean toward Sony.
Gadget happy
“Teens have a natural curiosity about everything, but particularly electronics and other gadgets, and most of the electronics manufacturers aim their advertisements and products at kids,” says Robert Williams, executive director of the Rand Youth Poll, a marketing/research firm in New York.
Others agree.
“I think the teens of today are much smarter consumers than their peers of 30 years ago. A lot of kids today do their own shopping and they often know what it is they want,” says Audrey Guskey-Federouch, an assistant professor in marketing at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University.
Micah has been trying to convince his parents that it’s time they started shopping around for a new computer. He says the family’s old one, purchased three or four years ago, no longer challenges or amuses him.
He would like his parents to buy a more powerful and versatile computer, one powered by an Intel 486 microchip and with a color monitor and CD-ROM drive. Computers with those full-blown features typically retail for around $3,000.
“It can do just about everything you would want it to. It’s also very fast and uses the latest in CD-ROM software,” says Micah, a 10th-grader. “It’s possible to store information from an entire set of encyclopedias on one CD-ROM disc. Plus, it can give you pictures and sound.”
Sibling support
Micah brings his younger brother and two sisters into the argument, noting that a more sophisticated computer would be good for the whole family. “We kids could use it to do our schoolwork, while our parents could use it to help them keep track of the household expenses and other things,” he says.
Jesse, also a 10th-grader, also has been trying to get his parents to get a computer as well.
“I’m interested in desktop publishing and I could use it for that purpose,” he says. “If you’re going to spend a lot of money on a computer, you should be able to use it for a variety of things.”
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Jesse and Micah know how to use a modem-a device that hooks a computer to a telephone line-that lets them contact “on-line” services such as CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online.
There’s a variety of information on those bulletin-board services, such as computer programs, hobby groups, news wires and business and entertainment trends.
In the area of video game systems, both teens agree that Super Nintendo still leads the pack.
Micah often does chores around his home to earn money to purchase video game cartridges, while Jesse prefers to rent them because “I often master a video game after two or three times, so buying it would be a waste of money.”
This year, sales of video game systems and their accompanying software are expected to reach more than $10 billion, according to Video Software Dealers Association and Paul Kagan Associates, a video research firm based in California. Kagan forecasts the video game market will grow to $18 billion by 1997 and $24 billion by 2002.