9 Out of 10 Teens Now Online, Eschew Email, Embrace Instant Messenger   - 2,533 Views, 3 Comments

Some of the findings by the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey are surprising, but some are not, or at least shouldn’t be.

For example, the survey found that older teen girls “are among the most intense users of the Internet and cell phones, including text messaging.”

This “debunks the myth of the tech-savvy boy,” said Amanda Lenhart, one of the Pew researchers.

Bullpucky, says Aunty. Even if there is a myth of the “tech-savvy boy”, and Aunty has not heard of such a myth, anyone who either has, had, or was a teenager knows that teenage girls have telephones surgically attached to their ears. It should come as no surprise at all that this extends to cell phones, and to instant messaging. The phenomena isn’t, after all, about hard pieces of plastic pressing against your ear - it’s about being in constant contact with your girl friends, gossiping, griping, and figuring out life.

Much more astonishing, at least to Aunty, is that nearly half - fully 45% - of all teens have their own cell phone!

Now, all this said, the survey, conducted by telephone, questioned only 1100 teenagers, and in English only. So it’s not clear exactly how accurate a picture this survey gives.
>Still, it gives one pause for thought.

Most of the news reports out there are based on the Pew report of the survey. But Aunty finds reading the actual questions and responses much more interesting, and you can find those here.