This report on the use of social media and mobile phone by adolescents. Demographics for study were of teens ranging from ethnicity, income, gender and age. Research shows that 24% of teens are almost constantly online. This is through the usage of computers, game console, smartphone and a Tablet. When asked which social media platform is frequently used by the teens 13 to 17, Facebook remained the most used site. Instagram was the second most used by when broken down, and it is mainly used by girls. Social networking has become very popular with society, and keeping up with just one is time consuming. Pew Research showed that 71% of teens use more than one social network. Of course overlapping will happen when using multiple social networks. What I found astonishing, is that lower income teens have the same friends in the multiple social networks. About 25% of overlapping happens in higher income teens compared to the 36%.
Teens were given seven platform options ranging from Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, and Vine to report social networking. The study shows that middle and upper income teens prefer Instagram and Snapchat. These sites are photo and video sharing. Snapchat automatically deletes videos and photos within a predetermined time. (A. Lenhart) Most Instagram teens have about 150 followers compared to Facebook users have about 145. Lenhart states, that Facebook is consistent in usage across racial and ethnic groups. Twitter is used by 33% of teens which is likely older teens from 15-17. These users have about 95 followers and used more by girls than boys. These are the top social media platforms used by teens. Among teens, girls dominate the usage of social media compared to boys. Boys on the other hand, are more likely to play video games.
Of course, access to technology will show gaps in this survey. Lower income teens have less access, because they have a basic cell phone or laptops/desktops with no internet access. The well to do teens own or have these tools at home with internet access. Girls have more access to tablets compared to boys. Surveys also show that girls are access pinboards, and discussion boards more than boys, therefore it makes sense that they have access to these technologies. Boys may be using them, but they are more adept to use them for video gaming and preferring a video console.
Online activity is higher through mobile internet. 90% white, and 91% of Hispanics use mobile internet versus African American who occasionally use it. Studies do show that teens ages 13 to 17 are online frequently from internet searching, social media, to texting. I learned that teens use texting messaging applications to enhance their messages. Teens no longer have to worry about how long their texts are going to be, data usage, and features. Not to long ago, we had to worry how many texts were were sending and a quick smiley face with no extra features. Once again, usage of texting is popular with girls, sending and receiving about 40 messages. Lenhart describes girls preferences as visual social media platforms versus boys may use social media platforms, but a smaller usage than girls.
Technology is the gateway for teens to communicate with others through social media platforms. Even as a graduate student, I use at least three social media platforms to communicate with the friends, family, colleagues, etc. I did notice that Google+ was the least used social media platform and mainly used for school related assignments. At our school, we use Google+ for sharing files and information throughout the school. With that note, having access to technology does make it easier for teens to have outlets for these platforms, and some may feel out of the loop since they don't interact in the social media world frequently.
(47 pages) Pages read up to date 102 out of 150
I wonder about how lack of connectivity affects students, too, in terms of the haves vs the have nots, even within the same school.
ReplyDelete