10 Things to Know About How Teens Use Technology

10 Things to Know About

How Teens Use Technology

Kristen Purcell, Ph.D. Associate Director, Research

Pew Internet Project

ACT Enrollment Planners Conference July 10, 2013

• Part of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” based in Washington, DC

• PRC’s mission is to provide high quality, objective data to thought leaders and policymakers

• Data for this talk is from nationally representative telephone surveys of U.S. adults and teens (on landlines and cell phones) unless otherwise noted

• Presentation slides and all data are available at pewinternet.org

A story about Kristen and Holly…

Kristen was born in 1970

She grew up in a house with a

landline telephone (eventually two

landlines!)

She used a payphone to call her

parents to pick her up at school

Her family had a VCR and an

answering machine, and Kristen

had a walkman

“Call waiting” was the rage in HS

This is Kristen

(she may look familiar)


Kristen took typing classes in high

school and typed papers on an

electric typewriter (with autocorrect!)

She used library books to do

research for school

She typed her college applications

on her electric typewriter and

submitted them by mail

Everything she knew about the

colleges she applied to came from

books, friends, and teachers

This is Kristen (she may look familiar)


Kristen got her first computer, a

Mac, freshman year in college (1988)

She began using something called

“email” junior year in college (1990)

She would analyze datasets by

dialing in to her college mainframe

In graduate school, Kristen got a

laptop and a Palm Pilot, did most of

her research online, and submitted

papers as email attachments



Kristen was the last one she knew to

get a cell phone, in 2004 at age 34

She now has a smartphone, an iPad,

two laptops, and a desktop

She has broadband and a wireless

network at home, and MiFi for traveling

She can access work documents and

email anywhere in the world

Kristen now has a Facebook page,

Twitter account, and Pinterest profile,

and loves texting



Holly was born in 1995

She is entering her senior year in high

school and is applying to colleges

Holly has never known a world without

the internet, email, PCs or cell phones

When she was born, almost half of adults

used the internet and had cell phones

By the time she was 10, 73% of adults

had cell phones and 30% had laptops

This is Holly (this is not actually Holly,

she would kill me if I used

her real picture)


At age 10, Holly got her first cell phone

At age 14, on a family trip, Holly was

forced to teach her aunt how to text

Today, Holly has an iPhone – she is one of

37% of teens who have a smartphone and

one of 78% of teens who have a cell

phone of any kind

Like 87% of her peers, Holly has a phone

that can take pictures

Holly can also use her phone to record

video, watch and share videos, and listen

to music



her real picture)


Holly got her first computer when

she started middle school – so she

could do her homework online

Today, she has her own laptop – she

is part of the 93% of teens who use a

laptop or desktop computer at home

When Holly was born, the World

Wide Web was 5 years old….

today Holly is one of 95% of teens

who use the internet



her real picture)


Facebook emerged in 2004, when Holly

was 9

Today, Holly has a Facebook page,

where she (reluctantly) is friends with

her aunts and uncles

Holly is joined by 82% of her online

peers on social networking sites

She is one of 62% of online teens who

post photos of themselves online

Holly likes Facebook but she LOVES

Tumblr – along with 5% of her peers



her real picture)


Twitter emerged in 2006 when Holly

was 11 and in middle school

Holly doesn’t use Twitter – but one in

four of her online friends do (24%)

YouTube emerged a year prior to

Twitter, in 2005, when Holly was just

starting middle school

Today, 27% of Holly’s online peers record and upload videos

13% of her online peers stream live video to the internet and 37% use video

chat



her real picture)


Holly researched colleges online and

emailed programs before deciding which

schools to visit

A main source was YouTube, where she saw

not only “official” school videos, but videos

by students that revealed a LOT about

college life

She chose not to visit schools with slow or

difficult to navigate websites because she

felt it was a sign they were not keeping up

with technology

Holly submitted her first college application

this week – online



her real picture)

• 78% of teens have a cell phone, almost half (47%) of whom own

smartphones

• That means 37% of all teens have smartphones, up from 23% in

2011

• 23% of teens have a tablet, comparable to the general adult

population

• 95% of teens use the internet

• 93% of teens have a computer or access to one at home

• 71% with home computer access say the laptop or desktop they use

most often is one they share with other family members

“Teens and Technology 2013”

• 74% of teens access the internet on mobile devices

• 1 in 4 are “cell-mostly” internet users (15% of adults who are cell-mostly)

• Among teen smartphone owners, half are cell-mostly internet users

• Older girls are most likely to be cell-mostly internet users; 34% mostly go

online using their cell phone, compared with 24% of boys ages 14-17 (boys

and girls are equally likely to be smartphone owners)

• Among older teen girls who are smartphone owners, 55% use the internet

mostly from their phone

• Overall, teens living in lower-income and lower-education households are

still less likely to use the internet

• However, those in low income or low education hhs are just as likely and in

some cases more likely than those in higher income or more highly

educated hhs to use their cell phone as a primary point of internet access

“Teens and Technology 2013”

10 Things to Know…

#1 – Among teens 12-17, social network site growth

has slowed (particularly Facebook), but Twitter use

is growing rapidly

FB

remains

dominant

platform

There was

little room

left for FB

growth

among

teen social

media

users


#2 – Today’s teens are sharing more personal

information online than teens have in the past


#3 – Today’s teens do care about online privacy

Most teens

use the

“private”

setting on

Facebook

Only 1% don’t

know what

their privacy

settings are

Teen Facebook users are aware of their privacy settings

On Twitter,

most teens’

tweets are

public

12% don’t know

what their

privacy

settings are

Twitter is a more public platform for most teens

40% of teens are at least “somewhat concerned” about 3rd

party access to their info…


#4 – Today’s teens take active steps to manage their

online reputations

Teens manage their online reputations by deleting

undesirable material

One in

five

teen

social

media

users

regret

some-

thing

they

posted

Most teen social media users have deleted or

blocked people in their network


#5 – Parents of teens are very aware that online

content can impact their teens’ lives

Parents of online teens are as concerned about reputation

management as they are about strangers online

72% express

concern

about

strangers

online

69% are

concerned

about online

reputation

mgmt


#6 – Most teens’ educational environments include

the use of at least some digital technologies

Cell phones are

used more than

tablets or

e-readers as

educational tools

All of these tools

are more likely to

be used by

teachers of higher

SES students

• 42% of AP and NWP teachers say their

students use their phones to look up

information in class

• 38% say students take pictures or

record video with their phones for class

assignments

• 18% say students use cell phones to

upload school related content to the

internet

• 11% report students texting in class with

a teacher/other students as a part of a

class assignment

• 2% have students use an online cell

phone platform like CELLY

Teens are using cell phones as learning tools

Research is the

most common

online activity

teachers give

students

Teachers are less

likely to use

interactive tech

tools such as wikis

or GoogleDocs as

part of the learning

process


#7 – The internet has fundamentally altered how

teens do research, but not necessarily for the worse

Teachers’ see the internet having both positive and negative impacts on students’ research habits and skills

Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012, n=2,462 middle and high school teachers.

For today’s teens,

research =

“Googling”

The internet and

digital tools open

up a vast array of

information and

resources

Yet students must

have the skills to

dig through this

information to find

the most credible

and salient content

Overall, teachers say the positives outweigh the negatives

Overall, would you say the impact of the internet on

students’ research habits has been mostly positive

or mostly negative?

Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012, n=2,462 middle and high school teachers.

“The internet

makes doing

research

easier….

easier to do

well and easier

to do poorly”

– AP teacher focus group


#8 – Digital tools can benefit teens’ writing skills and

abilities, according to teachers

Teachers' Views of Potential Impacts of

Today's Digital Ecology on Students Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012. Based on a non-representative sample of 2,067 middle and high school teachers.

Students write more and

are more engaged

in their writing

A broader audience + more

opportunities for expression

and feedback have many

students more engaged in

the writing process

92% of AP and NWP

teachers surveyed describe

writing assignments as

“essential” to the formal

learning process

“Writing effectively” tops

teachers’ list of skills

students need to be

successful

(91% say it is essential)

In focus groups,

teachers

expressed

concerns about…

• Informal

language and

grammar creeping

into formal

writing

• Generally

diminishing

grammatical and

vocabulary skills

• Cultural

emphasis on

truncated forms of

expression

Digital technologies are perceived as contributing to both positive and negative writing skills and habits % who say computers and other digital tools for writing…

Make students

MORE LIKELY

to…

Make students

LESS LIKELY

to… Make NO

DIFFERENCE

Take shortcuts and not put effort into their writing

68 10 22

Write better because they can revise and edit easily

56 19 25

Be creative 50 12 37

Present ideas clearly 46 13 41

Write too fast or be careless 46 19 35

Use poor spelling and grammar

40 38 22

Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012. Based on a non-representative sample of 2,067 middle and high school teachers.


#9 – Teachers are divided as to whether “digital

natives” are all that unique

Are “digital natives” unique? Yes and No


#10 – A digital divide persists in the area of

education and technology

Teachers of the highest and lowest income students are not

on a level playing field, and they are concerned

These AP

and NWP

teachers

see

disparities

in tech

access

both at

home and

in schools

Teachers of the lowest income students…..

• Are less satisfied with the support and resources provided by schools – 50% say their school does a “good job” in this area,

compared with 70% among teachers of high income students • Are less likely to say their school provides formal training in how

to effectively use digital tools in the classroom – 73% of teachers of high income students receive formal training compared with 60% of teachers of low income students

• Are more than twice as likely to describe their school as “behind

the curve” when it comes to using the newest digital tools – 39% say this, compared with 15% of teachers of high income students

• Are twice as likely as teachers of the highest income students to

say their schools’ internet filters and rules about cell phone use have a major impact on their ability to bring these tools into their teaching

How many of your students have sufficient access [INSERT] to the internet and other digital technologies they need to effectively complete school assignments… Source: Teacher data from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012, n=2,462 middle and high school teachers.

54% of these teachers say all or almost all of their students have sufficient access to digital tools while IN SCHOOL, but just 18% say the same is true AT HOME

Overall, 84% of AP and NWP teachers surveyed say digital

tools are leading to greater disparities across schools

% of teachers of high and low income students who “strongly agree” that today’s digital tools are leading to greater disparities between affluent and disadvantaged schools and school districts…

Source: Teacher data from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers, March 7 to April 23, 2012, n=2,462 middle and high school teachers.

Kristen Purcell, Ph.D. Associate Director, Research

Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

[email protected]

Twitter:

@pewinternet

@kristenpurcell

THANK YOU!!

All data available at: pewinternet.org