Manulife Philippines, in its constant pursuit of improving quality of life, recently completed a study on the Digitalization of the Filipino Family. This holds especially true in the New Normal when our consumption habits have changed drastically and our reliance on tech has exponentially risen. What major discoveries were uncovered here?
Filipino Parents Flourish In This Setting
Filipino parents have experienced both sides of the coin – working in a more traditional setup of office labor, and the remote flexibility seen today. That could be a huge contributor as to why happiness and contentment levels among this age bracket is higher. Sometimes, life conditions are relative and any improvement brings about positive emotion.
Work-life balance seems to be a huge factor in this emotional positivity. 72% are able to take care of their kids more, 82% are able to bond more with their families and 89% attest to a smooth family experience at home. They also get to enjoy their hobbies more, including but not limited to: online streaming, health and fitness, and insurance. Others even had leeway to enter new fields such as sustainable investing, crypto/NFTs, and finance – a testament to the stability of the modern day.
Life is not without struggle though: financial concerns, inability to socialize or attend religious activities, and the like are factors.
Gen Z-ers Struggle More
Overall well-being levels for Gen Z-ers are lower than their adult counterparts. Others expressed digital fatigue, stress, depression, lack of sleep, and other factors as the cause for this statistic. These side effects are brought about by more or less the same as their parents, which indicates that a family going through struggles doesn’t only impact the parents but the children as well.
Hyperdigitalization Plays A Part
Due to the accessibility of the internet, the world has sort of adopted an always-online culture. This tends to burn people out, whether this culture permeates in work or play. Despite this, parents continue to support the responsible use of networks and technology.
Parents were found to supplement their homes with more electronic devices during the quarantines of the pandemic: including gadgets, TVs, computer accessories, smart devices, and others. Personal data isn’t much of a concern when it comes to improving services and showing relevant ads that could lead to a conversion.
Digitally-enabled Insurance And Investments Offer Protection
While merely around a quarter of Gen X and Millenials are looking to buy insurance online, almost half of Gen Z-ers are. The security and backing this provides is very reassuring, should something untoward or unexpected occur. The power to use e-payment portals for these procedures just makes everything simpler, especially for regular payments that can be done from any place, anytime.
Top insurance kinds include Health, Accident, Investments, Child’s Education, and Pension. Filipinos are starting to believe that digital investments could help them secure their future for the lon-term.
These are all important points explored by Manulife in their discussion of family digitalization. Hopefully, spotting these trends allows people to make more conscious, calculated decisions that will benefit them specifically instead of “riding on a train headed towards nowhere” or even worse, missing out entirely.
