METRO Thursday, January 19, 200612

So, what isit all about?Urban Life is Metro’s award-winningstudy of ‘urbanites’ – young, full-timeworking professionals in Britain’smajor cities. Each year we researchthe opinions, attitudes and lifestyles

of 4,000 Metro readers across13 UK cities, asking forreaders’ views on everythingfrom current affairs to coolbrands; environmental issues tomust-see movies; mobile phonesto multiculturalism.

What do I get out of it?We’re genuinely interested in youropinions on the key issues of theday and you can share theseviews with Metro’s editorial team.The results from our surveys fuelledmore than a dozen stories in Metrolast year – such as the one on thispage today. As if that wasn’tenough, we’re also giving away£55,000 in prizes – hundreds of£20 HMV vouchers and one£1,000 cash prize after each of our main surveys. And if you staywith us the whole year andcomplete five or more of our sixmain surveys, you will be enteredinto our prize draw for one £5,000cash prize.

What’s involved?Taking part is easy. Urban Life iscomprised of six main surveys, thefirst one in February and then oneevery six weeks. All surveys areonline so you can do them any timeof the day or night that suits you(within our survey periods). We’ll e-mail you when each one is readyto complete. Each one should takeyou around 15min to do.

Sign me up nowIf you are interested in takingpart in Urban Life 2006, pleasego to the www.myurbanlife.comwebsite and follow theinstructions there. Spaces arelimited on the project – last yearwe had twice as many volunteersas we needed, so please registerearly to avoid disappointment.

Importanceof family ties

Attitudes tobringing up kids

Religious beliefs(or lack of them)

Attitudes towardsmarriage

The political partyyou support

The newspaper youread at weekends

Attitudes towardssexual relationships

None ofthe above

I just don’tknow

49%

46%

40%

35%

15%

15%

23%

18%

4%

They say the apple doesn’t fall farfrom the tree but many urbanitessee their parents as technologicaldinosaurs, says SARAH HILLS

No matter how much we loveour parents, few of us wantto end up just like them.

Their immortal lines, such as ‘turnthat noise down’, and annoyinghabits provide plenty of materialfor us to moan about over the years.

So Metro invited readers to let off steam about their folks in anUrban Life survey. The resultsshowed that some worn-outstereotypes still ring painfully trueand proximity breeds contempt.

More people in their 20s than everbefore are living at home as theystruggle to get on the property ladderin Britain’s major cities. But eventhose who have flown the nest findthere is no escape from their parents.

Urbanites whose family homewas in the countryside hadparticular cause for complaint.

One said their gripe was theirparents ‘being excited that I have“made it” working in the city for a huge salary when I am in a boringjob, have a long commute andmove documents around all day’.

Another said: ‘Now that I live andwork in London my mum thinksI’m rich. She expects presents andtreats every time I go home likeI’m the prodigal daughter.’

Most urbanites polled shared theview that parents and moderntechnology, such as e-mails andtexts, don’t mix. There were severalgroans from grown-up children whohad bought their folks a computerand subsequently became 24-hourhelp-desks because their mum anddad did not know how to work it.

Complaints were also made about

mobile phones. One reader said:‘Apparently, these are for theiremergencies only! The rest of thetime they are switched off to savethe battery.’ The rules ofcommunication were called intoquestion by another reader whosaid: ‘My parents seem to forgetthat the phone can work both ways.’

More than half of British menaged 20 to 24 – almost1million – still live with

their parents, according to theOffice for National Statistics.

More women in the same agegroup have flown the nest, with justover a third of women remaining athome. Overall, the number of

British 20 to 24 year olds livingwith their parents has risen by 50per cent in the past decade, makingtoday’s relationships betweenparents and their grown-up childrenparticularly pertinent.

But the generation gap hasn’tdiscouraged urbanites from beingparents. One said: ‘I can’t wait tohave kids so I can use the sameimmortal lines: “You’re not goingout looking like that. You treat thisplace like a hotel.” And, of course:“Turn that bloody racket down.”’

Nearly two thirds of those polledsaid they considered themselvesfinancially successful whencompared with their parents. And54 per cent said they thought they

had livedup to their parents’expectations and made them proud.

However, 14 per cent of urbanitessaid they had made their parentsproud ‘but they never expectedmuch anyway’. Another seven percent had ‘been a disappointment’ totheir folks; four per cent admittedto not making their parents proudbecause ‘they expected too much’;and 19 per cent said they did notknow what their parents expectedfrom them in the first place.

There was also praise for parents.‘My parents were great,’ said oneurbanite. ‘If I can be a parent tomy kids like mine were to me, I’dfeel I was doing an excellent job.’

in cash and prizesis up for grabsWIN!WIN! Now, tell us what

YOU think and...Come and take part in our2006 survey by logging onto www.myurbanlife.com

Generation game

CMYK

URBANLIFE2006www.myurbanlife.com