More about teen online behavior
Posted by Jacque on August 15th, 2007
Read/WriteWeb has an interesting analysis of a study of teen online behavior by the National School Boards Association.
The study (pdf) — supported by Microsoft, News Corp., and Verizon — is based on three surveys: an online survey of 1,300 9- to 17-year olds, another of more than 1,000 parents, and telephone interviews with 250 school district leaders who make decisions on Internet policy.
Results of the study show that teens are very participative and creative online, with nearly 60 percent reporting that they discuss education-related topics such as college planning, careers and learninng outside of school, while 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork.
Creative activities include writing, art, and contributing to online collaborative projects. The majority have uploaded pictures and 22 percent have created and uploaded videos.
Richard MacManus at RRW raises the question of whether this study contrasts with the recently reported IAI study that indicates more online time is being spent on content than communication. Since the IAI study puts social network sites in the content category, I don’t think so.
A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project presentation by Mary Madden focused on teens and libraries, but included a lot of generally relevant information about teen behavior online. For instance, 55% of online teens use social networking sites and of those who use social networking, 48% log on to the sites at least once a day or more. 83% of all teens say that “most” of the people they know use the internet. Teens know that ordinary citizens can be publishers, movie makers, artists, song creators, and storytellers, and 57% of online teens have created some kind of content for the Internet.
The widespread use of technology by young people will undoubtendly have an impact on their behavior and expectations in the workforce of the future, as speculated by Business Week’s recent issue on BizKids.
