More than half of Generation Z won’t pick up the phone to their parents and a quarter refuse all calls, a study has revealed.
Seven in ten parents (71 percent) consider phone calls the best way to connect with their children, researchers found.
But nearly two-thirds (64 percent) complain that they only hear from their children through messages.
And six out of ten say they think the younger generation are afraid to answer phone calls.
But 18- to 25-year-olds say they consider phone calls a relic of the past, with 57 percent regularly refusing to answer when their parents call.
Kids cringe the most when their parents answer ‘OK’ to everything, cited by 41 percent (stock photo)
More than a third (34 per cent) find calls ‘inconvenient’, with 32 per cent saying they rarely make them and a fifth finding it ‘strange’ when they receive one.
Similarly, 36 percent of this age group say they would only use a phone call to track down their friends on a night out and 19 percent would only do so in an emergency.
WhatsApp, texts and Snapchat are the way Gen Zers prefer to communicate, with 24 percent saying a phone call is an ‘absolute no-go’.
Parents are more likely to have children answer their call if they are forewarned, with 47 percent preferring a text beforehand.
Sky Mobile surveyed 1,000 parents of children aged 13 to 25 and 1,000 Gen Zers aged 18 to 25.
Researchers also found that it’s not just parents’ calls that Gen Zers often ignore, with four in ten – 41 percent – muting a group chat with them.
Meanwhile, a quarter of mums and dads (24 per cent) believe their children deliberately use confusing slang in messages to keep them in the dark.
Almost three in ten parents (28 per cent) have to look up slang and acronyms their children use before answering.
But despite their best efforts to engage, all too often they have awkward texting mishaps that make their kids cringe, the survey found.
Children cringe the most when their parents answer ‘OK’ to everything, cited by 41 percent.
Their messages also seem to miss the point if they sign off with a lot of ‘xxx’ as kisses (30 per cent) or reply to good news with a thumbs up emoji (29 per cent).
Other parenting pitfalls include autocorrect mistakes (28 percent), sending random photos or jokes (22 percent) and using proper punctuation in messages (21 percent).
More than a third (35 percent) of Gen Zers find it amusing how their parents have no idea about emojis
The survey also found that 37 percent of parents pay for their child’s phone contract after they leave home in the hope that it will keep them connected
Gen Zers also frown on writing ‘haha’ as ‘ha ha’ (19 per cent), incorrect use of emojis (19 per cent) and images with motivational quotes (17 per cent).
Rounding out the top ten parental messaging mishaps is signing off with ‘LOL’ as lots of love rather than laughing out loud (15 per cent) – a mistake made infamous by former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Four in ten parents complain that trying to use emojis is like learning a new language, with 38 percent hardly ever making the effort.
More than a third (35 percent) of Gen Zers find it amusing how clueless their parents are about emojis.
But 27 per cent say they are embarrassed when their parents try to use slang in their messages and one in six are frustrated by their cryers.
Slang terms that often confuse parents include ‘padman’, which means a young man or boy hanging around on the street, ‘peng’ (handsome), ‘bald’ (a lot), ‘OMG’ (oh my God) and ‘boujee’ ‘ (posh or dainty).
Sky Mobile enlisted TV presenter Jeff Brazier, 44, to ask students at the University of Hertfordshire how they preferred their parents to communicate with them.
Several admitted to blanking their parents when it came to phone calls. One said: ‘I do it all the time, but I don’t tell them.’ Another said: ‘I remember blocking my mum because she kept calling me.’
Mr. Brazier, who has sons Bobby, 20, and Freddie, 18, from his relationship with Big Brother contestant Jade Goody, said: ‘I used to think I was up to date with all the texting tricks of the younger generation. But I am officially schooled.
‘Staying connected with my children is very important, especially as they take on the big challenges in their lives.
“So, I’m glad I got the opportunity to learn from some of the digital natives of our time.”
The survey also found that 37 percent of parents pay for their child’s phone contract after they leave home in the hope that it will keep them connected.
Sky Mobile offers shareable data plans for families. Managing director Paul Sweeney said: ‘All unused data rolls into one Sky Piggybank which can be shared, meaning students can get a data top-up whenever they need it to stay in touch – by text, not phone call not.’