Kids and Technology in 2013

Earlier this week there was an article in The Age about being 13 in 2013, and like Kevin above, who can't imagine life without WiFi access, Facebook or smartphones. It's a timely reminder to educators that these kids are growing up in a different world to ours. I'm so old I remember when Pagers and Beepers were all the rage! These kids don't know a floppy disk, a record and many won't know a C.D. either!

Read the article here: http://www.theage.com.au/national/being-13-who-we-are-and-what-we-think-20130520-2jwse.html#ixzz2Tt9Xsn7Y

There was also a new report out this week from Pew this week on Teens, Social Media, and Privacy too. It's hard for adults to understand the complete lack of disinterest that our teenagers have for privacy and in parent sessions I have to remind them that these kids have grown up with The Kardashians and the likes of Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton & Nicole Ritchie on reality TV shows that bare all, and for them that is normal and I believe the stats below support this. 

Key findings from the research include:

·                78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of them own smartphones. That translates into 37% of all teens who have smartphones, up from just 23% in 2011.

·                23% of teens have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population.

·                95% of teens use the internet.

·                93% of teens have a computer or have access to one at home. Seven in ten (71%) teens with home computer access say the laptop or desktop they use most often is one they share with other family members.

Teens are sharing more information about themselves on their social media profiles than they                      

did when we last surveyed in 2006:

                 91% post a photo of themselves, up from 79% in 2006.

·               71% post their school name, up from 49%.

·               71% post the city or town where they live, up from 61%.

·               53% post their email address, up from 29%.

·               20% post their cell phone number, up from 2%.

·               60% of teen Facebook users set their Facebook profiles to private (friends only), and most report high levels of confidence in their ability to manage their settings.

·               56% of teen Facebook users say it’s “not difficult at all” to manage the privacy controls on their Facebook profile.

·               33% Facebook-using teens say it’s “not too difficult.”

·               8% of teen Facebook users say that managing their privacy controls is “somewhat difficult,” while less than 1% describe the process as “very difficult.”

"Smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive. One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

These are among the new findings from a nationally representative Pew Research Center survey that explored technology use among 802 youth ages 12-17 and their parents. Key findings include:

“The nature of teens’ internet use has transformed dramatically — from stationary connections tied to shared desktops in the home to always-on connections that move with them throughout the day,” said Mary Madden, Senior Researcher for the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project and co-author of the report. “In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future changes in the adult population.”

Read More: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Tech.aspx