Plugged In - PEW Report

Lenhart, A. (2015, April 08). Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015 

Teens always seem to be plugged in to technology.  These days it seems that a teen’s smartphone is an extra limb on his/her body.  A recent report from Pew Research Center confirms this.  Well… they didn’t actually say the smartphone was an extra appendage on the human body, but based on the numbers cited within the report, one could practically draw that conclusion. 

In this report from the Pew Research Center, 1,060 teens between the ages of 13-17 were surveyed to help determine the number of teens with smartphones and how they used those smartphones to communicate.  Something that I found interesting was that Facebook was still the social media site of choice.  71% of teens surveyed frequently used Facebooks.  Instagram came in second followed by Snapchat and Twitter.  The report said that girls use more visually oriented sites and platforms than boys. In my opinion, because the sites are fairly new, I think they will continue to grow in popularity.  I see teens being drawn to more visual expressions of communication rather than the written word:  Microblogging versus longer traditional forms of communication.  Although the report did say that the on average, teens send 30 text messages per day. 

So, this makes me wonder:  are teens’ brains being wired differently because of all of this constant visual stimulation saturating their pathways?  PEW determined that 92% of teens report going online daily.  Of those 92%, 56% log on several times a day, and 24% teens report going online “almost constantly.”  I can’t help but question how this plays a role in education.  If we have to teach the way they learn, then it seems educators need to consider this.  However, I also worry that the bombardment of all of these small snippets of communication will somehow have an affect a student’s ability to engage in a longer piece of text (i.e. reading a novel).   

While access to a variety of devices may differ between ethnic and socioeconomic groups, the numbers are still surprisingly high in regards to access to some type of digital device.  For example, 91% of white teens have a desktop or laptop compared to 82% of Hispanic teens and 79% of African-American teens.  On the other hand, 85% of African-American teens own a smartphone compared to 71% of white teens and Hispanic teens respectively.  So regardless of what type of device is owned, the point is a majority of teens have access to the Internet.  Perhaps, knowing how teens use social media should have major implications on the way they are educated. 

 

(This report contained 48 pages)