Week of July 31, 2005

A major update on teen tech use was our top news story this week. It had been five years since the Pew Internet & American Life Project had looked at technology in teenagers' everyday lives, so we at Net Family News found the 2005 study revealing.

Were we baby-boomers this nuanced as teenage communicators?! Check out these highlights about US 12-to-17-year-olds:

  • Email is adults' communications tool, so it's more for communicating with them, not peers - and maybe "a way to convey lengthy and detailed information to large groups."
  • Instant-messaging is for everyday casual conversation with friends; and it's "efficient." (One high school girl told Pew that, with IM, "if you only have like an hour and a half to spend on the Internet, then you could talk to like maybe 10 people. Whereas you can only talk to three people if you were going to call.")
  • The phone, unlike IM, is for serious conversations, and "the landline phone remains the most dominant communication medium in teens' everyday life" (51% "usually choose" it when they want to talk with friends, as opposed to 24% who usually choose IM and 12% cellphone).
  • Away/not online messages in IM - customized, when one's IM service allows, with jokes, coded messages, quotations, etc. - are to maintain "presence" in one's social group even when not in the conversation of the moment. IM is an outlet for personal expression - screennames, profiles, avatars, skins, emoticons, and away messages.
  • Face-to-face still rules (an average 12-to-17-year-old spends 10.3 hours a week socializing with friends in person and 7.8 hours/wk socializing via phone, IM, email, or phone-texting).

The changes over the past five years are significant. For example, 87% of US teens 12-17 use the Net (51% daily), compared to 73% (42% daily) in 2000; 81% of teen Net users now play games online (52% growth since 2000); 76% get news online (38% growth); 43% shop online (71% growth); and 31% get health info online (47% growth in 5 years). Also, phone text messaging has emerged as a "formidable force" (though still lagging behind teen texting in Europe and Asia).

Noteworthy in the online safety area: Though the vast majority of US teenagers go online at home (26% in a private space like a bedroom and 73% in an open family area), growing numbers are logging on from libraries, school, and other locations. Think about what that says about the effectiveness of filtering or monitoring Net use on home computers (54% of US parents use filters). And then there are the other devices used for wireless connecting, such as cellphones and gameplayers, that don't yet have parental controls (84% of US teens have at least one "personal media device," 44% at least two).

Demographic highlights: 1) Online activity really kicks in at 7th grade (82% of 7th-graders are online, compared to 60% of 6th-graders); girls 15-17 are the "power users" - they have "a much higher level of engagement with a wide array" of online communication and info-seeking activities than do either boys their age or younger boys and girls.

Their social lives: What kind of effect does all this technology have? Interestingly, parents and teenagers don't disagree on this that much. "Of the parents of teenagers we interviewed," the study's authors write, "62% say they disagree with the notion that teens who use the Internet to stay in touch with their friends have better social lives than teens who don't.. Teenagers themselves are slightly less likely to disagree. Almost half of all teenagers agree that the Internet can help teens have better social lives, while 51% disagree."

Links to other coverage around the world. The study got reams of media coverage. Here's a sampler:

In Other News...

  • Ratings confusion. What the controversy surrounding GTA: San Andreas really highlights is confusion over all the ratings - of movies, music, and TV as well as videogames. USATODAY reports that "a cry has gone out" to fix the game ratings system, in fact all the ratings systems.
  • Student software. Microsoft's just-released Student 2006 - a $100 DVD "packed with organization tools, templates and content to help middle and high school students in a variety of subjects," USATODAY reports - got both top billing and mixed reviews. The article features the perspective of well-known tech educator Kathy Shrock, who said that having all those tools in one place means kids can focus more on the content of their reports, graphs, etc., where the focus needs to be. But the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg wrote that, though "a sound idea," Student isn't "an integrated program designed from the ground up."
  • Help in buying a laptop. If you're in the market for a student at your house, Washington Post tech writer Rob Pegoraro points out that laptops are cheaper and more mainstream now, but they're no easier to purchase. "Manufacturers routinely skimp on features and capabilities - to save themselves a few dollars or so they can 'upsell' you other products and services - and it's up to you to spot what got left out." Worry less about processor speed and more about memory, pay attention to weight and battery life (of the one that comes installed, not the battery they want you to buy in addition), and think about a DVD-recordable drive, if only for backing up that hard drive, Rob suggests, among other valuable, practical tips. USATODAY's Kim Komando makes some recommendations as well.
  • Critics of kid phones. A group of child advocates "including the singer Raffi, Harvard child psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint, and conservative political operative Phyllis Schlafly" are calling on Congress to investigate the marketing and sale of mobile phones to children, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The paper mentions some of the latest developments in this niche: "Firefly Mobile has signed up 100,000 users under age 12 since March. Firefly phones connect with parent-programmed phone numbers at the touch of one button.. Coming soon: child-targeted phone service from Enfora for children as young as 6, Global Positioning System through Wherify, a Barbie brand mobile phone from Mattel and one from Hasbro called 'Chat Now'."
  • Grandmother sues GTA makers. Upset that she bought Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for her 14-year-old grandson without knowing it included hidden X-rated content, a grandmother in New York this week is suing Rockstar Games and its parent Take Two Interactive, the Associated Press reports. "Filing her lawsuit in a federal court in Manhattan, Florence Cohen is seeking "unspecified damages on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide, saying the company should give up its profits from the game for what amounted to false advertising, consumer deception and unfair business practices."