A Timeline of Teens and Technology

Amanda LenhartPolicy & Advocacy in the Schools MeetingAPAAugust 16, 2007San Francisco, CA

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Born 1990

Personal computers are 15 years old

Tim Berners-Lee writes World Wide Web program

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – First Grade 1996

Palm Pilot goes onthe market

August 16, 2007APA

J: romeo u thereJ: romeo u thereR: yo wassupR: yo wassupJ: nothin’, u?J: nothin’, u?R: skool sucked 2dayR: skool sucked 2dayJ: heard wylander got mad J: heard wylander got mad at uat uR: what a jerk i used R: what a jerk i used purpl inkpurpl ink on the sci test and he on the sci test and he got pissed he got pissed he lookjs like jimminy lookjs like jimminy cricktcricktJ: lolJ: lolR: going to nicks partyR: going to nicks partyJ: cant i’m groundedJ: cant i’m groundedR: yR: yJ: cardoza called home, J: cardoza called home, sez im failig sez im failig Spanish btw my rents Spanish btw my rents hate uhate uR: mine hate u 2R: mine hate u 2J: my dads coming gtgJ: my dads coming gtgR: k byeR: k byeJ: xoxoxoxo bye see u tmwJ: xoxoxoxo bye see u tmwR: xoxoxoxoxoxoxo gtgR: xoxoxoxoxoxoxo gtgJ: kJ: k

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Fourth Grade 1999

Sean Fanning creates Napster

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Starts Middle School 2001

Wikipedia - 2001

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Middle School 2001

August 16, 2007APA

Cellphones – Middle school years

• In 2004 – 45% online teens have a cellphone

• In 2006, 66% of online teens have a cellphone

• 68% of cellphone owners txt (2006)

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Middle School 2003

Skype - 2003

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Starts High School 2004

Podcasts – 2004

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen: Frosh Year 2004

Photosharing sites:

Flickr

Photobucket

etc

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Sophomore Year 2005

YouTube – 2005

August 16, 2007APA

Today’s Teen – Junior Year 2005-2006

The Year of MySpace:

• More than 100 million accounts created

• Third most popular site in the U.S. (after Yahoo and Google)

• 55% of online teens use social networking sites

• Of those who use social networking, 48% log on to the sites at least once a day or more

August 16, 2007APA

Today - 2007

Avatar - based Persistent Social Worlds

• Older Kids: Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online & Second Life

• Younger Kids: Webkinz, Whyville, Club Penguin

August 16, 2007APA

What’s not in our timeline?

• Gaming – on-going. Oldest video gamers who grew up with it are entering their forties, so some of the younger kids have parents who game.

• More than 2/3rds of online teens play computer or video games.

• Email – “It’s for old people”

• Mobility – gaming (DS, PSP), and now continuous presence applications – take social networks mobile – Twitter– Pownce etc etc etc– Teens don’t use these – yet.

August 16, 2007APA

Profiles: Switchboards for social life

August 16, 2007APA

All the world is not a stage...• 66% of all teens with profiles online have in some way restricted

access to it – includes hiding it completely, taking it down, or making it private

• 77% of profile-owning teens have a currently visible online profile– Of those with a visible profile, 59% say only their friends can

see their profile.– 40% say anyone can see profile

• 56% of teens with profiles say they have posted at least some fake information to their profile

“I use a pseudonym, who is 24. Because I regard myself as an intellectual, it’s easier to be taken seriously if people don’t know they’re talking to a 16 year old.”

- Boy, Late High School

August 16, 2007APA

Tensions in SNS Use

• Embodies tension in social networking sites – Teens want to stay safe– Want to connect with friends and with those

with similar interests– People need to be able to find you to make

new connections– Social networks ask for lots of personal

information when you create a profile– Facilitates good and bad “findability”

August 16, 2007APA

Online Safety & Harassment

• 32% of online teens have been contacted online by a complete stranger.

• Teens with SNS profiles are more likely to have been contacted.

• Of teens who have been contacted, 23% say they were made scared or uncomfortable by the stranger contact.

• Girls are more likely to report feeling scared or uncomfortable

• 32% of online teens have experience some form of online harassment, also called cyberbullying

– Threatening messages

– Private material forwarded without permission

– Someone posting an embarrassing picture of you online

– Spreading a rumor about you online

August 16, 2007APA

Teen Reality #1

Teens are technology-rich and enveloped by a wired world:

• 83% of all teens say that “most” of the people they know use the internet

• 10% say that “some” of the people they know use the internet.

• Just 6% say that very few of the people they know use the internet.

August 16, 2007APA

Teen Reality #2

Mobile gadgets allow them to enjoy media and communicate anywhere

• 84% report owning at least one personal media device: a desktop or laptop computer, a cell phone or a Personal Digital Assistant

• 63% of all teens own a cell

phone

August 16, 2007APA

Teen Reality #3

Teens know that ordinary citizens can be publishers, movie makers, artists, song

creators, and storytellers

57% of online teens have created some kind of content for the internet

August 16, 2007APA

• 33% of online teens share their own creations online, such as artwork, photos, stories, or videos

Sharing Creative Work

August 16, 2007APA

Bluegrass fiddler Nick Dumas: Age 16

"I'd be surprised if our band doesn't get noticed by some record company," Dumas says confidently. "People keep telling us,

`You need to go to Nashville.‘”

August 16, 2007APA

• 32% have created or worked on webpages or blogs for others, including those for groups they belong to, friends or school assignments

Working for Others

August 16, 2007APA

Jasmine Ta: Teen Journalist

August 16, 2007APA

• 22% report keeping their own personal webpage

Personal Webpages

August 16, 2007APA

• 19% of online teens have a blog

• Teen bloggers: Older girls, frequent users

• Do not update blogs frequently—largest group (less than a third) update the blog 1-2 times a week

Creating a Blog

August 16, 2007APA

Teen Blog Readers

• 38% of online teens read blogs• Teen blog readers: Higher SES, BBD/ tech-savvy

home, older teens, girls & frequent users• Reading blogs: 15% read daily or more often• But 1/3rd read less often than every few weeks.• Two-thirds read only the blogs of people they

already know. Another third read both the blogs of friends and strangers.

August 16, 2007APA

Remixing

• 19% of all online teens say they remix content they find online into their own artistic creations

• 35% of teen bloggers remix content

August 16, 2007APA

Teen Reality #4

Teens are multimedia multi-taskers:

Multi-tasking is a way of life – and people live in a state of “continuous partial attention”

--- Linda Stone

August 16, 2007APA

Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005

August 16, 2007APA

Kaiser Family Foundation, Generation M, March 2005

August 16, 2007APA

Education• 94% of online youth use the Internet for school

research; 78% say the Internet helps them with schoolwork.

• 71% of online teens say that they used the Internet as the major source for their most recent major school project or report.

• 41% of online teens say they use email and instant messaging to contact teachers or classmates about schoolwork.

• 18% of online teens say they know of someone who has used the Internet to cheat on a paper or test.

August 16, 2007APA

Impact and Implications

• Those who have grown up with interactive media want to manipulate, remix, and share content.

• They expect to be in conversation with others about content – access to an audience.

• Increasingly savvy about what they share, particularly on SNS – protecting privacy

• Social media is always-on, and persistent• But teens are still teens – the fundamentals of

that time of life are still there

August 16, 2007APA

What’s on the horizon?

Convergence of major current trends

• More persistent social worlds (Second Life, WOW)• More mobility (cellphones, laptops, DS/PSP)• More persistent, constant presence – Twitter, etc.• More avatar-based interactive spaces (Gaia, Habbo,

SL)• All of these will come together as interactive and

mobile and gaming spaces, all rolled into one. (Sony Home)

August 16, 2007APA

Issues Schools Must Address

• Integration of Internet safety into the K-12 curriculum and instruction

• Defined roles and responsibilities for the school board; administrators (central office and building); teachers; counselors; instructional technology resource teachers;

• library media specialists; building resource officers; technology coordinators; students; and

• community stakeholders, including but not limited to parents, caregivers, public library staff, after-school and off-campus program instructors, and local law enforcement officials

August 16, 2007APA

School Issues, cont.

• Safety measures, including any that already exist• Data and network security plan• Procedures to address breaches of Internet security and protect

students’ safety• Process for annually reviewing, evaluating, and revising the

program• Professional development opportunities for staff across the

division• Outreach programs for community stakeholders

Source: (This site provides lots of links for internet safety tips for educators, parents, students)

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/OET/internet-safety-guidelines.shtml

August 16, 2007APA

IDEAS FOR INTEGRATING INTERNET SAFETY INTO THE CURRICULUM

• The Internet allows students to learn from a wide variety of resources and communicate with people all over the world. Students should develop skills to recognize valid information, misinformation, biases, or propaganda. Students should know how to protect their personal information when interacting with others and about the possible consequences of online activities such as social networking, e-mail, and instant messaging.

• This guide provides ideas for addressing Internet safety in the context of Virginia’s Standards of Learning.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/OET/internet-safety-integrating.pdf

August 16, 2007APA

GENERAL SAFETY FOR ALL SUBJECTS

• Whenever students conduct research or communicate on the Internet, teachers should remind them of the following: (1) rules, as outlined by the school division’s acceptable use policy (AUP); (2) techniques for evaluating information from Web pages; (3) potential dangers of using Web pages or email for communications; and (4) proper precautions to take as well as appropriate steps to take if they encounter a problem.

• Students also need to be aware of online pitfalls, such as the propaganda or persuasive tactics used by content providers and advertisers, lack of visual signals between people, and misuse of words and images by cyberbullies and/or criminals.

• Constant repetition of these cybersafety elements will help students internalize these messages.

August 16, 2007APA

Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens by Federal Trade Commission

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec14.pdf

• Tips for socializing safely online: Your Safety’s at Stake

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, is urging kids to add one more lesson to the list: Don’t post information about yourself online that you don’t want the whole world to know. The Internet is the world’s biggest information exchange: many more people could see your information than you intend, including your parents, your teachers, your employer, the police — and strangers, some of whom could be dangerous.

August 16, 2007APA

The FTC suggests these tips for socializing safely online:

• Think about how different sites work before deciding to join a site. Some sites will allow only a defined community of users to access posted content; others allow anyone and everyone to view postings.

• Think about keeping some control over the information you post. Consider restricting access to your page to a select group of people, for example, your friends from school, your club, your team, your community groups, or your family.

• Keep your information to yourself. Don’t post your full name, Social Security number, address, phone number, or bank and credit card account numbers — and don’t post other people’s information, either.

August 16, 2007APA

Safety tips, cont.

• Be cautious about posting information that could be used to identify you or locate you offline. This could include the name of your school, sports team, clubs, and where you work or hang out.

• Make sure your screen name doesn’t say too much about you. Don’t use your name, your age, or your hometown. Even if you think your screen name makes you anonymous, it doesn’t take a genius to combine clues to figure out who you are and where you can be found.

• Post only information that you are comfortable with others seeing — and knowing — about you. Many people can see your page, including your parents, your teachers, the police, the college you might want to apply to next year, or the job you might want to apply for in five years.

August 16, 2007APA

Safety tips, cont.

• Remember that once you post information online, you can’t take it back. Even if you delete the information from a site, older versions exist on other people’s computers.

• Consider not posting your photo. It can be altered and broadcast in ways you may not be happy about. If you do post one, ask yourself whether it’s one your mom would display in the living room.

• Flirting with strangers online could have serious consequences. Because some people lie about who they really are, you never really know who you’re dealing with.

August 16, 2007APA

Safety tips, cont.

• Be wary if a new online friend wants to meet you in person. Before you decide to meet someone, do your research: Ask whether any of your friends know the person, and see what background you can dig up through online search engines. If you decide to meet them, be smart about it: Meet in a public place, during the day, with friends you trust. Tell an adult or a responsible sibling where you’re going, and when you expect to be back.

• Trust your gut if you have suspicions. If you feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, tell an adult you trust and report it to the police and the social networking site. You could end up preventing someone else from becoming a victim.