Teens Embracing The Internet More Than Expected

from the it's-how-they-communicate dept

Some more info on the study briefly mentioned here earlier today, talking about how much teens have come to embrace the internet. For many of them it's the main way they communicate. Forget those long teenager phone calls... It's all about instant messaging now. They also admit that they use it to say things they would have had difficulty saying otherwise. I guess it's just a much more efficient replacement for passing handwritten notes (the old school method I had to use back in high school).
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  1. identicon
    Duffman, 21 Jun 2001 @ 8:01am

    I completely agree

    ..being shortly out of my teens myself, though I resisted all instant messaging until fairly recently, believing it a waste of time. Now, while I don't feel terrible if I don't get on, I do enjoy having it, as it is close to a phone conversation, but much cheaper, and you can have multiple conversations at once. One part of the article bugged me, though, and it's not just about IM, it's also about email:
    Thirty-seven percent of teens have said they have used IM to say something that they would not have said directly to someone in person.
    This just goes to show that people can be more abusive/indignant online, and also that it makes it MUCH easier to say something that you would regret later. I never write emotional emails, and if I do, I wait to send them out the next day, preferring to read them over again first. It's just common sense.
    One more thing, though. One kid comments near the end of the article that he doesn't think his parents check on him much, saying his parents aren't that net-savvy, and he could get through anything they put up to block him. I wonder how things will be when the net-savvy younger people today have their own teenagers wanted online (whatever that'll be) in 15-20 years - a race to see who can stay ahead?

    link to this | view in thread ]


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