Students heading to college this fall are the best equipped, technologically speaking, of any adult today.   How many digital doodads are in that backpack anyway?  Let’s take a look and see what’s inside…

According to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 96% of undergraduate students own a cell phone, 88% a laptop and 84% an iPOD/MP3 player.  Compare those stats to those of the average adult, of whom only 82% own a cell phone, 52% a laptop and 45% an iPOD/MP3 player. 

An additional survey conducted by Wakefield Research found that over one-quarter of all students responded that their laptops are the most important item in their backpack- which is nearly three times the number of students who chose textbooks.

Where do college kids see the digital trend moving in the future?  While only 7% of students currently own an iPad, it’s an overwhelming agreement that students see this as the next must-have to add to their digital collection in the future. 

So this begs the question- how strong is the affection for those technological devices?  Thirty eight percent of students indicated that they did not go more than 10 minutes before checking their device.  Now that’s Connected (with a capital C).

In today’s push to satisfy digital appetites, one thing is increasingly clear- college students have the biggest mouths to feed.  And we thought their stomachs couldn’t get any bigger.