After world war 2 and as part of the “American dream” thousands immigrated to the US to find there a home.
The Chinese dream, is taking place right these days as more and more Chinese are exposed to the internet. The Chinese need not physically immigrate to an unknown country – they are managing life changes from their own homes. Follow them on the web: exploring, socializing, and expressing themselves.
On one of my recent posts on the Chinese online behavior, statistics were presented to address the so called “addictive” symptoms of the online Chinese users. A reference study to compare the Chinese internet behavior to the US behavior was missing.

JWT and IAC reported this week two parallel online surveys, conducted on the US and Chinese youth groups (16- to 25-year-olds).
According to the study, while youths in both countries feel dependent on digital technology, this attitude is far more pronounced in China. Chinese internet users perceive the web as the primary tool for establishing their identity in a land which offers them complete freedom to explore and communicate. Moreover, the internet serves the Chinese youths as a social tool to replace offline interactions. The powerful effect of these two needs explains its intensity and the demanding nature of this channel for the Chinese internet users. For American youths these needs are (still) provided by offline interactions. ¼br /> I gathered the results of the survey as reported by the Chinese internet users (see parentheses for the US results) and divided them to relevant categories of internet dependency, online interaction management, and social and identity benefits.  .

Digital dependency:
• 61% claim they have a parallel life online (US: 13 %).
• 86% report that “I live some of my life online” (US: 42%)
• 80% agree that “digital technology is an essential part of how I live” (US: 68%)
• 25% report not feeling OK when they are without internet access for longer than a day (US: 12%)
• 42% admit they feel sometimes “addicted” to the online life (US: 18%)
• 48% feel that “things online are more intense than things offline” (US: 12%)
• 61% report feeling strong emotions prompted by online interactions (US: 47%)
• 24% feel “more real online than offline” (US: 4%)

Managing Online interactions:
• 51% report they have adopted a completely different persona in some of their online interactions (US: 17%).
• 63% agree that “It’s perfectly possible to have real relationships purely online with no face-to-face contact,” (US: 21%)
• 79% think it is good to be able to express opinions anonymously (US: 42%)
• 72% say they have expressed personal opinions or written about themselves online (US: 56%) and 52% report that they have expressed themselves more strongly online than they generally do in person (US: 43%). 

Personal benefits:

A. Social values:
• 77% report that the internet helps them making friends (US: 30%)
• 32% admit that the internet has broadened their sex life (US: 11%)
• 54 % said they had made or heated up dates using text messages (US: 20%)
• 82% agree that “Interactivity helps create intimacy, even at a distance,” (US: 36%)
• 77% agree that computer/console games are much more fun when played against others online (US: 33%) 

B. Identity formation and self expression benefits:
•  73% go online to share opinions with others (US: 43%)
• 60%  report “Online interactions have made me more self-aware” (US: 26%).
• 73% claim that online they are free to do and say things they would not do or say offline (US: 32%).
• 69% agree that “I have experimented with how I present myself online” (US: 28%).
• 66% agree “Online interactions have broadened my sense of identity” (US: 26%)

Methodology
In both China and the U.S., random online surveys polled respondents aged 16-25. The U.S. portion, which included 1,079 respondents, was conducted from Nov. 9-14 using SONAR  research tool. In China, Millward Brown surveyed 1,104 respondents from Nov. 9-15; the survey was conducted in Chinese.

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