The folks at Pew have recently published a study on Teens use of the internet. Joho the Blog has a post with verbatim summary bullets from the reports announcement. See the Joho post for more details. If you work with youth, I would download the entire report.
According to the report almost 90% of all teens use the internet. This should not be a surprise to anyone around kids, but it speaks volumes to how kids currently get information and how they will likely continue to get information over the next few years. It also discusses the technologies that teens are using. Email is still important, but text messaging is preferred. What does this tell us about cell phone usage? Ken Leebow thinks cell phones are the future technology for sending and receiving information. Korean youth already use text messaging far more than email, and use the cell phone for purchases at vending machines.
Bottom line for Extension Professionals: check out the report and start planning on how to reach and teach today’s youth and future young adults.
[...] The article discusses how the WHOIS group wants to create their entertainment experience. And how the growing wireless infrastructure allows for continual use of media. Think about the changes in how people want information. Twenty four hour accessibility, or the ability to download and access at any time. It all affects how we package our information and services and our distribution methods (can someone easily purchase and/or download the materials, video, etc.). See this earlier post about teens and their use of information systems. [...]
[...] Yestereday’s NY Times had a great article about the technology use of millennials (those born between 1980 – 2000). It reinforces the findings of the recent Pew Internet studies (see here for example) about video cell phones, messaging and other technologies to stay in touch. After plunking down some hard cash to get my son a 60gb iPod, I can attest to their use of hand held technologies to communicate and view information. Just watch the recent spurge in cell phone commercials to get a feel for where this is at (Verizon’s vcast commercials for example). [...]
[...] CNN.com has an interesting news post today that discusses the differences in the use of instant messaging (IM)between current teenagers and baby boomers. No surprise that the kids use IM more and e-mail much less. The reverse is true of boomers. This dovetails much of the work done by Pew Internet Study. More reinforcement of the need to consider differences in work styles and alternative ways of reaching this generation of youth. [...]