Are digital natives online-obsessed and disconnected from what’s happening in the real world? Not at all so, according to our latest survey of 1,000 Millennials all over Britain.

We already knew that Millennials have a strong preference for experiences over things in general, and this preference has increased: three out of four Millennials (73%) would now rather spend money on experiences than desirable goods – up from two out of three (65%) in 2014.

In addition to this, we can now also dispel the myth that millennials prefer online debate over taking concrete action and paint a clearer picture of the central role events play in expressing who they are and what they believe in.

Millennials strongly believe that live events are essential for political change in 2017, despite their reliance on technology: 84% of those surveyed felt that, when thinking about the future of their country, it was essential for people to come together in person to promote positive change.

While Millennials are particularly known for being politically active online, they ultimately trust events to deliver real change: 56% of Millennials have taken political action offline after engaging with a cause online and three-quarters (74) believe that a live event is more impactful than taking action online. This sentiment seems to be on the increase, with 58% of older Millennials saying that they attend more events supporting a cause than ten years ago.

Idealistic Millennials believe that all kinds of events can make a difference. For a generation that is continuously broadcasting their experiences via their mobile devices on the hunt for social karma, attending an event is a public expression of what they believe in:

• 69% of Millennials agree that attending a live event is the best way to show other people what they are interested in and what they stand for, significantly more than Gen X (59%)
• 1 in 5 (20%) of Millennials have attended an event supporting a particular cause in the last 12 months, compared to only 13% of Gen X

The survey, conducted in partnership with research agency Crowd DNA took a sample audience of 1,001 British adults aged 18 – 45.