College Students and the Internet

How did we survive without it?

Snapshot

• 93% of college freshmen have used computers for at least 6 yrs– Nearly half used the Internet before their parents

learned to use it• ¾ use a desktop and over ½ own a laptop– Over 1/3 own both

• Nearly 87% have used the Internet for at least six years, significantly longer than the general population

Snapshot

• 94% reported spending at least one full hour on the Internet every day. This is up from 77% in 2002

• Over half reported more than 3 hrs on line each day – compared to ¼

• Interesting contrast – the majority of students (72%) reported spending less time studying for classes than being on the internet.

General Communication

• 40% of student use the internet for social communication, while 28% use it for entertainment (up from 10% in 2002)

• 22% use it to engage in work related to their classes (down from 38% in 02)

• About half spend 3 hrs or more per week online engaged in social communication

General Communication

• ¾ reported that friends were the people they communicated with most online– Family ranked a distant second (10%)– Professors ranked third….7%– Romantic partners…..4%

• About 1 in 5 reported forming a romantic relationship online before meeting in person– (and over 15% reported dating online)

General Communications

• Email still most used online activity – with nearly 90% checking their email at least once per day (up from 75%)

• Over 83% reported using IM the most

• 33% keep a blog and nearly ½ have maintained a blog for over a year.

Social Networking

• Half of students reported their favorite social activity online was communicating with friends on campus.– 36% reported logging on to Facebook everyday– Second?? Checking the weather! (35%)

Food for Thought

• The top 2 percent of Twitter users send 60 percent of all tweets;

• Less than 10% of Twitter users are college students

• Flickr, FourSquare, My Space, You Tube, etc. dominate social communications

• Majority jump on Facebook with heavy activity in the first month, then decrease

Your Ecosphere

• How do you consume media?• Do you accept advertising or messaging on

social sites?• If you want information where do you go to

get it?• What makes you decide to get something?

Food for thought

• Does advertising work?• What would drive you to look for information?– Where would you go to find it?– Trusted sources?

• Do you detect a Technical divide?

References• Everyday life, online: U.S. college students’ use of the Internetby Steve

Jones, Camille Johnson–Yale, Sarah Millermaier, and Francisco Seoane Pérez.First Monday, Volume 14, Number 10 - 5 October 2009http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2649/2301

• Edge.com• Pew Center for American life and Technology

• Newsweek – June 13, 2010

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