How 'Totally Wired' Are They?

I'm here in Vegas at the Starbuck's in the Mandalay Convention Center, music blaring behind me (they must not want you to set here too long), wishing I could be at the fake beach bobbing around on the fake waves. My panel at The Cable Show is coming up soon. I asked the teens (all seniors from various Las Vegas high schools) to write up a diary of their media consumption to get a feel for how wired they are. These teens all happen to be part of their schools' debate clubs or teams, which is why I think they consume more news than the average teen. I thought you might enjoy some excerpts:

Teen boy: At least once a day I visit The Drudge Report and The New York Times homepages. I recently created a Facebook and find myself checking it even when I know no one has messaged me, due to E-mail update. I probably spend about a half hour to an hour each day maintaining it. I always use Wikipedia and Google if I need help with research, and usually end up on Google video or YouTube as a result.

Teen boy: Music is a large part of my life. I love listening to music from when I walk into the door to about when I go to sleep (I'm listening to music as I type this). I own an iPod, but I usually listen to it via my laptop, car or PC. I get my music for free, and I don't feel proud of it, but I don't overdo it, and I make sure it's a song that is shared by 100's of people.

Teen girl: I am currently using my second Razor phone since I dropped the first one and broke the non-durable device in half. I do not have instant messenger installed on my computer because I find it far too distracting. My main form of communication is face to face conversation, whether it's at lunch or a coffee house with close friends. However, I do frequently text message and thankfully my father upgraded my text message plan last week. I find text message conversations rather impersonal, but sometimes it is the most efficient form of communication, especially when I can text my mom to bring my lunch since I forgot it at home.

Teen boy: I am constantly consuming media. I rarely ever have homework, but if I did have some then I would be checking out MySpace pages and IMing and doing everything possible and doing my homework. If my computer is on then I have music on, so if I am doing anything, music is an assumed constant. When I'm not consuming types of media and I don't have anything to do, I like to read. I read books a lot and reading is the most preferred entertaining activity that I do.

Teen girl: TV? What's TV? I would have to say on an average day I watch an hour of TV. I usually have the TV on at night when I'm doing homework, just to listen to it. I'm a total "Grey's Anatomy" freak, I've been watching it since the beginning of the second season and I work my schedule around the 9 p.m. time slot on Thursdays. Everyone knows not to call me around that time because I'm so focused on "Grey's." I also watch "America's Next Top Model," "The Apprentice," and randomly "Sabrina The Teenage Witch." Yes, I totally love Tivo, but I don't Tivo "Grey's." I like to watch that even with the commercials.

P.S. Media Life Magazine reported (third item) on some interesting research from E Poll:

"Young men are leading the way when it comes to multi-platform viewing of video content. A new study by E-Poll shows that 26 percent of males 13-34 say they frequently view video on devices other than a TV, according to a report by Research Brief. Of those, 75 percent say they watch content on their desktop, 46 percent on a laptop, 16 percent on a portable video player and 13 percent each turn to an iPod or cell phone. Teens make up the largest percentage of users who employ cell phones and iPods for video content, such as music videos, movies, TV programs and web videos. Among TV watchers, almost half didn’t know it was possible to transfer video to their TV but would like to. However, only 17 percent said they would pay $100 or more for a device."

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