Teenage Life Online: The Rise of the Networked Generation

Lee Rainie – DirectorYouth.Net Conference - Singapore

August 12, 2003

“Oh, like you know something the Internet doesn’t know.”

Who I am…… what we do

• Funded by Pew Charitable Trusts – a major U.S. foundation / charity

• Asked to create empirical research to help policy makers

• Areas of study:– Family life - Health care– Community - Civic and political life– Education - Work places

Prediction 1

“I believe that the Internet is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.”

the motion picture is

-- Thomas Edison, 1922

Prediction 2

“The central and dominant aim of education online is to bring the world to the classroom, to make universally available the services of the finest teachers, the inspiration of the greatest leaders, … and unfolding world events which through the Internet may come as a vibrant and challenging textbook of bits traveling over wires.”

by radio is

of the air.”

-- Benjamin Darrow, 1932 textbookcalled “Radio: The assistant teacher”

radio

Prediction 3

“There won’t be schools in the future…. I think the Internet will blow up the school. That is, the school as something where there are classes, teachers running exams, people structured in groups by age, [who] follow a curriculum – all of that.”

-- Seymour Papert, technologyexpert, 1984

think the computer

Adult population is stagnant / churning

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Jan-9

2

Jan-9

3

Jan-9

4

Jan-9

5

Jan-9

6

Jan-9

7

Jan-9

8

Jan-9

9

Jan-0

0

Jan-0

1

Jan-0

2

Jan-0

3

Teen population grows / use ebbs and flows

Adults

Teens

Email

Surf fo

r fun

Play games

Instant message

Health in

fo

News

Pursue hobbies

Listen to m

usic

Chat rooms

Download music

Sports news

My team’s site

s

Auction/tr

ading

Buy products

My own site

Sensitive to

pics

Research pro

ducts

What teenagers do online – 1

TV s

tars

Pic

ture

s

Roc

k st

ars

Cal

enda

r

What teenagers do online - 2

Homework

Major researc

h pro

jects

Email / IM

teachers

Download stu

dy aids

Access class W

eb sites

Create

class Web page

What teens do more than adults

Adults TeensBrowse for fun 63% 84%

Info leisure activities 65% 83%Instant messaging 51% 79%

Play games 34% 66%Listen to music 40% 59%Download music 29% 59%Visit chat rooms 26% 55%Check sports info 38% 47%

What teens talk about most with friendsTopic Total Male FemaleBoyfriend/girlfriend 38% 32% 44%Other friends 36% 33% 39%Life in general 35% 32% 39%Someone to date 35% 32% 38%Music 30% 34% 25%Sex 27% 32% 22%Gossip 26% 14% 39%The future 25% 24% 26%Next weekend 25% 24% 26%Last weekend 23% 23% 24%Movies/TV shows 21% 26% 16%Sports 21% 33% 8%Secret things 20% 15% 26%Current events 19% 22% 16%School / grades 18% 16% 20%Jobs 16% 18% 13%Deep feelings 15% 9% 23%College 12% 11% 13%Fashion 12% 7% 18%Video games/computers 11% 20% 1%Parents 9% 5% 13%Celebrities 7% 5% 13%Vacations 6% 7% 6%Brother / sister 4% 3% 6%Eating habits 2% 1% 3%

Source: Peter Grunwald & Associates Corporation for Public Broadcasting Survey, January 2003

Now and in the future

• Educational implications– Formal– Informal

• Social implications– Privacy and identity– Secret information– Friendships and associations– Family life

The Industrial Age education model

the clueless,teacher-dependentpupil

The Information Age education model

the net-savvy,well-connected, teacher-independent end-user

Students’ Internet metaphors

• The Internet as virtual textbook and reference library

• The Internet as virtual tutor and study shortcut

• The Internet as virtual study group• The Internet as virtual guidance counselor• The Internet as virtual locker, backpack and

notebook

Student laments

• Assignments don’t take advantage of the Internet

• Classroom work hardly ever exploits the Internet

• The hindrances students see:– Fear about “digital divide”– Fear about the “dark side” of the Internet– Techno-wariness– Low level of support from school administrators

NET-SAVVYNET-SAVVYSTUDENTSTUDENT my referencemy reference

materials and textsmaterials and texts

my searchmy searchengineengine

my personal my personal networknetwork

my teachers and tutorsmy teachers and tutorsmy favoritemy favoriteresearch research

sitessitesmy classmatesmy classmates

my onlinemy onlinestudy aidsstudy aids

my onlinemy onlinetutorstutors qualitywarequalityware

& communityware& communityware

Underlying world view, Information Age education

Digital age shifts in learning

TEXT TEXT+IMAGE

BEING TOLD

(authority based)

DEDUCTIVE

(linear)

DON’T KNOW

WON’T TRY

INFORMATION RICH

NAVIGATION MEDIA

DISCOVERY, EXPERIENTIAL

BRICOLAGE + JUDGMENT

(lateral)

DON’T KNOW – LINK, LURK & TRY

literacy literacy literacy

John Seely Brown, Social Life of Information

action

reasoning

learning

Privacy and identity

• Teenagers want to set themselves apart from their parents – this is the age of emancipation– They use technologies to be with people and do

things that they would like their parents not to see

– They also like to experiment with their identities • Take advantage of anonymity of online world • Video game characters• Customize their “tech toys”

Splitting the selfHow many email addresses or screen names do online teens use?

  One Two ThreeFour

+

All teens 44% 25% 10% 21%

 

Boys 39% 26% 11% 24%

Girls 50% 23% 9% 19%

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Teens and Parents Survey, Nov.-Dec. 2000. Margin of error is ±4%.

Access to ‘secret information’

• Teenagers use the Internet to find secrets and learn sensitive information– Health information– Sexual information– Tips on how to handle difficult social

situations (bullies, etc.)– Insights on how to be attractive to romantic

partners– Subjects that are forbidden in their homes

Friendships and associations

• Use communication tools to stay in constant touch with their friends– A new intimacy and “presence” – “ultra-

connectedness”– New levels of spontaneity– “Smart mobs”– New arrangements for etiquette and norms

• New tools to expand their social networks– The possibility of more “weak” ties

New life at home

• Family accommodation to the new technologies – Where is the computer?– Who can go online when and for how

long?– Is it being used for “good” or “bad”

reasons?– Teens as tech support – family learners

• A one-time generational event

Implications -- Blurred boundaries

• Private / public• Home / work / school• Identity – male/female, young/old,

passive/aggressive, playful/vengeful• Producer / consumer• Entertainment / information• Single tasks / multitasks• Right / wrong

A new challenge – more stress

• Higher levels of intrusion in personal life

• “Always on the job”

• “Always available”

• New surveillance possibilities – loss of privacy

What today’s youth can do for us all

• Develop new sense of community – especially by using online groups

• Help “sort out” the Web – find information, allow interactions

• Help define and teach media and technology literacy

• Help create new social norms – define how it is proper to behave with new information technologies

• Help elders adapt to new technologies and the coming era of ubiquitous computing (cars, homes, clothes, wallets, appliances)

“People tend to overestimate the impact of new technologies in the short run and underestimate their long-term impacts.”

Prediction 4

-- Mary O’Hara Devereaux Institute for the Future

Contact meLee Rainie

Lrainie@pewinternet.orghttp://www.pewinternet.org