The AP and AOL just released the top level results of their Instant Messaging survey, which offers a glance at how teens are using IM. What's interesting to me is that multi-tasking around using IM and doing homework has gone down compared to 2006 (parental involvement? Need to concentrate?). These stats also reveal that IM is still one of teens' primary ways of communicating as well as one that's easier to spill the beans on, flirt, ask each other out, etc. From the press release:
- 32 percent of teens are sending IMs from their cellphones
- More than half (55 percent) of teen IM users have used instant messaging to get help with their homework. This is a 17 percent increase over last year. Meanwhile, 22 percent of teens say they have sent an IM to ask for or accept a date.
- Forty-three percent of teen IM users say they have used instant messaging to say something they would not say to someone in person. Teenage girls are more likely than boys to do so. Nearly half of teenage girls surveyed have used instant messaging to say something they would not say in person, compared with just over a third of teenage boys.
- Teens today are more likely to upload photos (42 percent in 2007 vs. 34 percent in 2006) while instant messaging. They are less likely to conduct online research for school (57 percent vs. 63 percent) or update their blog or social profile (33 percent vs. 42 percent) while sending IMs.
- Nearly three in four teens (70 percent) and one in four adults (24 percent) send more instant messages than emails.
Posted by anastasia
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Comments
I read this, and it certainly agrees with what I'm seeing. What I'm also seeing, though, is that it's encouraging people (not just teens) to take the easy way out of hard conversations - apologies, asking for a date, etc. I can't articulate what I'm thinking, but this seems like a dangerous trend. What are your thoughts on how do address this without knocking the tool (which I, too, use)?
Posted by: Paul Loeffler | November 15, 2007 10:34 AM
Hi Paul. I would say adults have a similar problem. Ever sent an email when you should have picked up the phone? You should have a conversation with teens about how technology adds distance to any conversation making it easier to avoid confrontations or say more than you feel comfortable saying in person. I think it's a problem we all struggle with.
Posted by: Anastasia | November 15, 2007 4:55 PM
I found this from a link on CNN. I'm a 22-year-old guy, which I believe places me in the age range for Generation Y (although a little older than the subjects in this story). Regardless, I'm continually amazed at the apparent fascination - and distrust - by the media about our usage of technology. Every time I get on the internet, there's another article expressing bewilderment over another thing that people have been doing online for years, yet the mainstream is just now catching onto. It seems that everyone could save a great deal of time and effort by realizing that the online world is merging with the physical world for many people, especially young people. That extends to everything - the way we do business, the way we work interpersonal relationships, even the way we view ourselves. And the sooner the mainstream figures that out and stops being afraid of it, the better off everyone will be.
I will grant the point of this article, that it's not good to avoid confrontation by hiding behind a computer screen. On the other hand, the kids doing this will still have to handle conflict. They'll still see those people at school the next day. They'll still have to deal with the possible repercussions of their words. Sure, it's easier at the time, but it winds up being just as hard in the end. Young people are still learning about conflict management - they're just doing it in different ways than before.
Posted by: Ben | November 16, 2007 10:34 PM