Technology Resources

Wallis, Claudia.  (March06).  "Are Kids too Wired For Their Own Good?: What science tells us about the pluses-and minuses-of doing everything at once."  Time Magazine, vol. 167 (13), pp 48-55.

Associated Press, Chicago, IL: “Teens More Wired Than Ever: A new survey says that the Internet has all but saturated the youth market,” 27Jul05.

OVERVIEW

Youth workers, teachers and parents ought all to have a deep interest in the use of Internet and Cell Phones by teenagers and “tweens.” This report and Associated Press summary can be accessed online. How young people are shaping their identities and developing relationships should be of interest to all citizens.

Nearly 9 out of 10 young people, ages 12 through 17, have online access, according to a report compiled for the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This represents a 20% increase, four years, from about three-quarters of young people in 2000. Still, 3 million of almost 30 million U.S. early teens do not have Internet access, most of these being black and/or poor. This should be a matter of concern. (While 90% of 12-17-year olds have Internet access, only 66% of adults are online.)

David Pulliam, a 17-year-old high school senior from Indianapolis, is a typical example of a wired teen. He first got access to the Internet when he was 13, as did most of those who were surveyed. He has a blog and loves to use instant messaging to stay in touch with friends he's met at camps and sporting events. He also gets his news online, as do about three-quarters of teen Internet users who were surveyed. That's an increase of about 38 percent, compared with 2000 results.

"It's hard to imagine my life without it," Pulliam says of the Net. "In some ways, life would become a little easier because it would slow down. But it would become a lot more boring and hard because you would always be waiting for letters and responses."

At the same time he says he and his friends also have honed their Internet use—seeing it more as a tool for communication or research than "a novelty."

Amanda Lenhart, a Pew researcher, says that rings true with the findings of the survey. "Teens are very selective -- they're smart about their technology use," she says. "They use it for the kinds of things they need to do." As one teen in a focus group told her: "If you're asking for your parents to extend your curfew, you don't send an e-mail."

The survey for the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 1,100 randomly contacted early teens (12-17) by telephone. It received responses from 1,100 of them and was completed in late 2004. The survey has a margin of error of four percentage points.

Here are the findings of this report:

1. Of those surveyed, 87 percent said they use the Internet. About half of the young people who have online access say they go on the Internet every day, up from 42 percent in 2000.       

2. Three-quarters of wired teens use instant messaging, compared with 42 percent of online adults who do so. Teens most often reserve IMing (Instant Messaging) for friends and e-mail for adults, including parents and teachers.

3. About half of families with teens who have an Internet connection have speedier broadband access, while the other half still use phone lines to connect.

4. Nearly a third of teens who use IM have used it to send a music or video file.

5. While 45 percent of those surveyed have cell phones, those phones aren't necessarily the preferred mode of communication. Given a choice, about half of online teens still use land lines to call friends, while about a quarter prefer IMing, and 12 percent say they'd rather call a friend on a cell phone.

6. Older teen girls who were surveyed, ages 15 to 17, are among the most intense users of the Internet and cell phones, including text messaging.

Conclusions drawn from this study includes Amanda Lenhart’s note on the high use of Internet by girls: "It debunks the myth of the tech-savvy boy." As young people get Internet access at younger ages, that trend may only continue. But the use of cell phones and text messaging will also increase.

Back in Indianapolis, for instance, Pulliam's 13-year-old sister, Anna, says she first set up an e-mail account at age 8—and started using it regularly at age 10. She's been IMing since she was 11—and already has a blog. She also uploads photos from her digital camera to a Web site to share with friends. She does not have a cell phone yet, though she notes that many people her age do.

That leads technology trackers to predict that text messaging, done by about a third of those surveyed who have cell phones, will grow in popularity. "The more other kids are doing it, the more kids want to do it," says Susannah Stern, an assistant professor of communications studies at the University of San Diego.

Susannah Stern represents a concern felt by many for the 3 million teenagers who remain without Internet access. This survey found that “many of them are low-income, and a disproportionate number are black…. When so many teenagers have such access, the few that don't are at a significant disadvantage," Stern says.

Daniel Bassill, who heads an organization that helps build the computer skills of low-income youth in Chicago, says it's an even greater challenge to find people to teach teens how to use the Internet. "Even the kids that have access don't necessarily have people mentoring them to use the information to their greatest advantage," says Bassill, president of Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1.     Is it important to you to know how much use young people are making of Internet and Cell Phones?

2.     Do you remember how the electronic revolution of the early 1980s (walkmans, multiple-TV sets in most homes, the VCR, new channels with cable and satellite, MTV created in late 1981, etc.) shaped a new generation, the X-generation?

3.     What effect do you think today’s emphasis on Reality Shows and virtual reality of all kinds, along with hours of video games, Internet and cell phone use will have on this rising generation and society?

4.     What benefits come from youthful use of the Internet?  List several dangers as well.

5.     What specific implications would you draw from this article/survey for your youth group, classroom or family?

IMPLICATIONS

1.     This is an Internet/CellPhone Age. We must adjust to it.

2.     Children and youth are more skilled and aware, than adults in many areas of pop culture, technology and social communication.

3.     Adults must learn from children and youth about much of this. We are in a position to make education, youth ministry and family life much more of a “two-way street” with informing and learning going in both directions. This can also take us in the direction of experiential education and service learning.

4.     Children, youth and adults may have different perspectives on the dangers of over-use or questionable content. Such differences must be worked out patiently and carefully.

Dean Borgman

 with information from the Associated Press