Tweeting While Eating: Nearly Half Of Millennials Use Social Media While Eating

A new study by The Hartman Group and Publicis Consultants, Clicks & Cravings: The Impact of Social Technology on Food Culture, quantifies all that tweeting that happens when people are eating.

Twenty nine percent of online consumers polled for the study have used a social networking site while eating and drinking in the last month (they were polled in December 2011). Among Millennials (18-32 years old), the percentage jumps up to 47%. Millennials also turn toward online media resources more readily than print or television sources when it comes to recipes or restaurant recommendations.

“Digital food selection is less of a sensory experience and more of a visual and rational process: What’s on the label? What’s in the recipe? Show me the picture,” said Laurie Demeritt, president and COO at The Hartman Group in a press release emailed to The Huffington Post.

Consumers aren't taking food advice from just anyone though -- the study found that people look toward stylish people -- not stylish brands -- when it comes to seeking recommendations.

“The ‘table for one’ rarely exists anymore, even among single people eating alone at home,” said Demeritt. “If you are eating alone, chances are you are also texting friends who live miles away or posting food photos to a review site."

Interestingly enough, lunch is the most commonly shared meal.

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Comments

[joyfulnois]

03:28 PM on 03/03/2012

Well, duh - so many people are SO addicted to social networking, and they do it so constantly, that the ONLY way they will get their food is if they eat while they network.

[mctrap]

01:05 PM on 03/03/2012

People like to show off or brag about the chemical experience going on inside their brain. It's like: "Wow, my dopamine levels really spike when I eat this." But this happens across a broad range of experiences, not just with food. I can digest it for what it is. But it does become rather boring to hear about, without any real articulation of understanding attached to it.

[FSMbaby]

11:03 AM on 03/03/2012

That's why Americans are overweight. If you aren't conscious of your eating you don't listen to your body's cues to stop because you're full. I've been guilty of it in the past. I realized I wasn't even enjoying my food at all. I was barely tasting it. It's a bad habit.

[standuppeople]

10:25 AM on 03/03/2012

No wonder America is "FAT"

[ZenCrusader]

07:35 PM on 02/29/2012

they can't be ' present ' in their experience of eating if their minds are elsewhere. Be Here Now is still the best.

[PalaceOfWisdom]

02:38 PM on 02/29/2012

I need the help of a young whippersnapper on something. Within the above picture, there is a box with many black squares, like a hi-tech bar code. I've seen it on some ads. What is that?

[HappyBrit]

05:55 AM on 03/01/2012

It's a QR Code, you can scan it using smart phones and it will often take you directly to a particular website.

[Lafhaus]

12:08 PM on 02/29/2012

I call those people ex-friends.

[thephuqqer]

11:24 AM on 02/29/2012

It seems that at least 70% of the psycopaths do .

[StopThePlanet]

02:46 PM on 02/29/2012

87% of all statistics are made up on the fly.

[joyfulnois]

03:32 PM on 03/03/2012

And 46% of them are even true! :)

[Papa Tightwad]

11:23 AM on 02/29/2012

More proof that half of millenials lost in themselves.

[cdysan]

11:16 AM on 02/29/2012

At 31, I thought I was a Y, not Millennial.
Anyway, I barely use social media at all, much less while I'm eating. I don't have a smart phone and I can't access facebook etc at work so that's most of the day without it, and I ALWAYS eat dinner at the table with my wife and daughter with no tv or computer on, maybe the radio sometimes.
I'm not trying to say this study is false because of my own personal habits, I know what outliers are, I'm just commenting.
But I don't think social media obsession is restricted to people my age.

And if it is, perhaps one day we will all grow up and do what our elders do, eat dinner in front of the TV.

[J0E1]

02:36 PM on 02/29/2012

Millennial's are Y's.  Same generation.  Just changed the name apparently because Y's didn't like the idea of being "that generation after X".

[banksm2010]

02:06 PM on 03/03/2012

Your not a true millennial, really your considered either a gen x or a millennial bc your not really one or the other. So your in-between.

[pepper1311]

11:04 AM on 02/29/2012

What kind of fool takes pictures of food sends them while dinning with others.

[bearstar55]

10:19 AM on 03/03/2012

You'd be surprised that there is people that actually do that! Go to a restaurant and take photos of the plate of food on their tables before they eat and then post it to their FB, or MySpace, or Twitter page. I think it's weird and in bad taste! Why not just take a photo of the menu and post that?

[carmillivanilli]

11:00 AM on 02/29/2012

I hope these comments don't turn into a forum for oldsters to bemoan the manners of the younger generation, because that's not what this article is about. The point is that meals have become a more interactive experience for members of this generation. People in their twenties aren't glued to their phones like antisocial zombie while sitting in silence with those with whom they're dining, no matter how you want to twist it. It's just far more likely that when twenty-somethings eat at a restaurant, they're probably going to use social media to check in, possibly use an app to review the meal or rate the craft beer they're drinking, maybe take a picture of their meal and upload it to an album of delicious meals they've eaten recently, and generally remark on the atmosphere, service, and overall experience. These activities take mere minutes and hardly interfere with the dining experience, and certainly aren't a substitute for the real purpose of going to a restaurant or preparing a meal - socializing with the people present in real time. If anything, this is more social than dining experiences were pre-smartphones - your dining experience isn't shared only with those with whom you're dining, but with lots of other people who might be interested - your friends, your mom back home, friends who might be in the neighborhood and want to stop by, as well as people all over the country who share your beer/wine/restaurant app and are looking for reviews.

[zevonia]

11:18 AM on 02/29/2012

But does it every occur to you that no one really cares what you are eating or anything else you feel you ABSOLUTELY MUST text/tweet/update about at that exact moment? Seriously people have "an album of delicious meals they've eaten recently"? This is your parents fault. They told you that EVERYTHING you did or said was exciting and wonderful and profound and you beleived them.

[carmillivanilli]

11:37 AM on 02/29/2012

You have no idea what my parents were like, but that's beside the point. People who are food enthusiasts, who have friends who are food enthusiasts, find this sort of thing interesting, just as all people consider their own interests interesting. Facebook and Twitter aren't forums that are broadcast to all people everywhere - they're exclusive to people who are chosen by the user. I'm going to agree that people get carried away with the egocentric sharing of all the minutiae in their lives, but again, that's not what this article is about. Nor was my comment, but that didn't stop you from making ridiculous assumptions, did it?

[J0E1]

02:39 PM on 02/29/2012

Shouldn't you be shooing some youngsters off your lawn?  Every minute you are here, one of those gangster kids could be stomping all over your grass!

[I-US]

02:17 PM on 02/29/2012

There is something to be said for intimacy and attentiveness, though.

[carmillivanilli]

02:33 PM on 02/29/2012

I agree - it's not appropriate for all situations (a first date comes to mind). And, of course, if your dining partner would be offended by such a thing. I would imagine that aspect is left to the individuals.

[Guardian Weasel]

10:48 AM on 02/29/2012

Well, there's a fairly major etiquette difference between munching on potato chips while sitting at the computer terminal and constantly checking your iPhone at the family dinner table.

I think the rule should be similar to books or magazines. It's only OK if you're eating by yourself.

[beth wittig]

10:32 AM on 02/29/2012

"Conscious eating" is such an important part of developing a healthy way of eating and a healthy relationship with your food. I could lie and say that I have never face booked,watched TV, texted or called while eating, but I do make an effort to be present with my food. Staying away from media can seriously aid in weight loss as obviously, when entrenched in another activity, we are not as aware of what we are putting in our mouths. I think it speaks to a certain resistance to being alone with oneself, or alone with ones thoughts--the need to constantly be distracted or stimulated can lead to racing through life without pausing to see if you are heading down a healthy path. When working with clients, one of the first thing we do is address conscious eating and making meal time a sensual experience.

[Deaninphilly]

10:11 AM on 02/29/2012

That age group uses it the most because they have no manners, doesn't surprise me at all.

[pepper1311]

11:02 AM on 02/29/2012

Beginning of generation ME. It's what I want.

[Deaninphilly]

08:01 AM on 03/01/2012

Exactly and nobody or or anything else matters.