Friday, April 10, 2015

Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015

Yesterday Pew Internet Research published a report on (US) Teens, Social Media & Technology. They administered an online survey, in English and Spanish, to a nationally (USA) representative sample of 1060 teens ages 13 to 17 and a parent or guardian, with the bulk of the data collected in autumn 2014. Some snippets:
"88% of American teens ages 13 to 17 have or have access to a mobile phone of some kind, and a majority of teens (73%) have smartphones."
"87% of American teens ages 13 to 17 have or have access to a desktop or laptop computer, and 58% of teens have or have access to a tablet computer."
"81% of teens 13 to 17 have or have access to a game console such as a Playstation, Xbox or Wii." "72% of teens play video games online or on their phone"
"92% of teens report going online daily — with 24% using the internet “almost constantly,”"
"The number of text messages sent or received by cell phone owning teens ages 13 to 17 (directly through phone or on apps on the phone) on a typical day is 30."
"When asked to rank social media sites by their frequency of use, Facebook is the platform that teens report that they use most often, with 41% of youth saying they use it most. Instagram is the next most often used social media platform, with 20% of teens saying they use it most often."
14% use tumblr, 24% use Vine, 33% use Google+, 11% use anonymous sharing apps, 47% use video connections such as Skype,
There are some differences according to gender, ethnicity and household income (e.g. more African-Americans have smartphones, wealthier homes have higher access to PCs, more boys than girls have access to a game console).
The report is free online at http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom, April 2015

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