A new report from the PEW Internet and American Life Project (Teens and Technology: Youth are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation) concludes that adolescent use of the Internet continues to rise. IM is possibly the area of heavy use that most drastically differentiates adolescent and adult users.
Some data were surprising to me. For example, 97% of girls 15-17 have used instant messaging, compared to 89% of younger boys and girls and 87% of older boys. While technology use and programming are clearly different activities (see yesterday’s post), the impression that males dominate ALL computer use is clearly false. The authors argue “Girls ages 15-17-year-old are the power users of the online teen cohort.”
