10 Things 10 Things to Know About to Know About
How Teens How Teens Use TechnologyUse Technology
Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.Associate Director, ResearchAssociate Director, Research
Pew Internet ProjectPew Internet Project
ACT Enrollment Planners ConferenceACT Enrollment Planners ConferenceJuly 10, 2013July 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)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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
This is Kristen (she may look familiar)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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
This is Kristen (she may look familiar)
A story about Kristen and Holly…
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)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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
This is Holly(this is not actually Holly, she would kill me if I used
her real picture)
A story about Kristen and Holly…
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
This is Holly(this is not actually Holly, she would kill me if I used
her real picture)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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
This is Holly(this is not actually Holly, she would kill me if I used
her real picture)
A story about Kristen and Holly…
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
This is Holly(this is not actually Holly, she would kill me if I used
her real picture)
A story about Kristen and Holly…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
This is Holly(this is not actually Holly, she would kill me if I used
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
10 Things to Know…#2 – Today’s teens are sharing more personal information online than teens have in the past
10 Things to Know…
#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…
10 Things to Know…#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
10 Things to Know…#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
10 Things to Know…#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
10 Things to Know…#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
10 Things to Know…#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
DIFFERENCETake 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.
10 Things to Know…#9 – Teachers are divided as to whether “digital
natives” are all that unique
Are “digital natives” unique? Yes and No
10 Things to Know…#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
@pewinternet@kristenpurcell
THANK YOU!!All data available at: pewinternet.org