Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults
I read the article titled, "Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults".
The article gave some interesting facts about how teens, young adults, and older adults are getting online and using social media. More so than ever for older adults, the Internet is a central and an indispensable element in the lives of American teens and young adults.
I know personally, most of my family and co-workers are heavily invested into the worlde of the Internet. Before taking this class, I had not thought of keeping a blog, but now I see many benefits of blogging. Also, the Pew report explains how both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly.
Facebook is currently the most commonly used online social network among adults. I definitely agree with that statement. My husband and I are on Facebook at least twice a day. Among adult profile owners, Facebook is currently the social network of choice. I was surprised to learn that teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens are bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter is an exception.
Wireless internet use is especially high among young adults, and the laptop has replaced the desktop as the computer of choice among those under thirty. I personally prefer laptops because I can use it while I’m in bed, in the kitchen, or on the go. I have a teen and a young adult in the house, and wireless connection is the best way to go. It’s needed for our Wii and Playstation, especially for our service to Netflix.
For families with teens, home broadband adoption grows. The Pew report states that 63% of teens go online every day!! I would have to disagree with that statement. I believe that number is much higher. Cell phones, gaming devices, kindles, and computers all have access to the Internet. Teens are enthusiastic consumers of gaming devices both wired and portable. Fully 80% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have a game console like a Wii, an Xbox or a PlayStation. While younger and older teens are equally likely to have a game console, boys are more likely than girls to have one. Adults 30 and older are much less likely to own a game console than teens or young adults. The report continues with facts like white online adults are more likely than Hispanic adults to be daily internet users, and the frequency of an adult’s internet use is positively correlated with both educational attainment and household income. I agree that you need the income to buy the tools you need to get on the Internet. Cell phones, desktops, and laptops can be expensive. Nearly four in five teens (79%) have an iPod or other mp3 player. Ownership of music players cuts across most demographic and age groups, with all groups just about as likely to own an mp3 player as another. The exceptions to this are parent’s educational attainment and family income. Unsurprisingly, as family income and education rises, so does the likelihood of a teen owning an mp3 player or iPod. Young adults & teens are more likely to have an mp3 player than other adults. No surprise there, I usually just store my music on my phone or listen to the radio. Overall the computer remains the most popular way for teens to go online, with 93% of teens with a desktop or a laptop computer to go online. But other more portable technologies are also now providing new paths to the Internet like the PS4. Xbox or Wii. Men, and adults with high income and education levels are the most likely to access the internet wirelessly.
Use of virtual worlds is more common among teens than among adults. My daughter plays Our World and Poptropica, virtual world games, at home a lot. Also, the study shows how posting comments online (such as on a news group, website, blog or photo site) has become somewhat more common among adults over the last two years. Not surprisingly is that girls are more likely than boys to look online for sensitive health information. Moreover, the study concludes that nearly half (48%) of online teens buy things online like books, clothing or music, a practice that has been steadily increasing! As for as getting news online, older teens are more likely to visit sites for news or political information; 68% of online teens ages 14"17 visited online news sites, while just about half (49%) of 12 and 13 year olds said the same. There are no gender differences in whether teens visit online news sites. White teens and teens from families with higher income and education levels are more likely to report visiting sites for online news or political information.
This study polled over 800 teens and their parents, and the results lets us know how we are using the internet and social media. I’m sure if they were to do the study in 2014, the results would change some. New apps and social networking sites have been invented since then and teens’ habits are always changing.
Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., Sicker, K., (2010 February 10), Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults. Pew Research Internet Project.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/02/03/social-media-and-young-adults/
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