Reading research can be tough because the numbers can go all ways but I found this article made a lot of sense while giving out numbers. The article reviewed social interaction of teens with social media apps, internet sites, gaming consoles and through smartphones.
According to this article girls are more likely than boys to use social media. In every survey done, girls, especially older teen girls used social media at a higher rate than boys. 38% of girls used Pinboards over boys at just 11%. Video chat, more than half, Instagram, 64% of girls, Snapchat, 56% of girls versus 31% of boys. Twitter, 49% of girls use it, Vine 27% of girls versus 20% of boys. Tumblr, 23% of girls versus 5% of boys. The only social site equally used by both boys and girls was Facebook (76% of all teens).
This actually shocked me. I've heard from many teens and friends with teens that Facebook is no longer popular, "it's for old people." However with looking into it, it was found that it was an equalizing site that appealed to most people. Snapchat offers a snapshot of your life, which some teens may not want to share if they are not well-off. You can better allude to a better life through pictures taken in other places, which can be shared on Facebook and Instagram than you can on Snapchat.
Snapchat was actually most popular with wealthier teens than with poorer. Twitter was also more popular with wealthier teens than with poorer, again, Twitter is a great platform for speaking your mind and it does seem wealthier people have a higher tendency to speak their mind than than poorer people. Maybe they feel entitled to it more so than others?
Because boys are not using social media sites as much it is because they are spending more time on gaming than they are anywhere else. Boys prefer gaming than other form of social media. 81% of teens report having a gaming console, 91% of boys report having one, while only 70% of girls do.
Again, I am not surprised by this data. Having two daughters, they are on their phones with friends more so than through gaming. We had a Halloween party here last year and my teen daughter had a mixture of girls and boys at the party (more boys than girls). The party did evolve into a gaming night of MarioKart. The winner of each round got to wear a "crown," which they passed around. They had a loud, raucous time celebrating wins.
As far as smart phone usage goes, African-American teens are more likely to have smartphones, more than any other group. 91% of all teens have a mobile device. Because they have a mobile device there is also a high percentage of online usage (91% occasionally, 92% go online daily, 24% report almost constantly). A typical teen sends 30 texts a day, again girls send more texts than boys, 40 to 50 a day.
I was surprised to find out that African-American teens were more likely to have smartphones, more than any other group. I couldn't find any explanation for it as to why. The most surprising fact was that so many teens use Facebook, a whopping 76%, and why slightly more boys than girls, I don't know? Perhaps it's a good way to snoop around on others you might be interested in? I don't know. It's just a guess.
When it comes to technology, teens love it are well-versed in it and will use it as much as they can get their hands on it.
Article length: 40 pages.
I agree that teens love technology and are well versed in it. I can barely get my 13 year old son out of his room somedays. As adults, we need to make sure that we are aware of the social media that our children are on and monitor what they are posting and who they are following.
ReplyDeleteI think the data show that, when people can't afford a computer they can still access the Internet through their smart phones. So instead of Internet via computer at home, which may not exist, teens (who will want/need a communicator anyway) will opt for a smartphone so they can have both.
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