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Staying Tech-Stupid

Does your teen fear the ‘rents are catching up on technology? No worries, says Pew. Scripps Howard: 

In type that scrolls up the screen like the preface for Star Wars, a YouTube video reads, “For years, parents could not text message. They could not figure out how to record a voice mail. They could not even connect to the Internet without using AOL.”

Warning that parents are adapting to technological gadgets, it flips to a short clip of a man learning to use the video capabilities on his cell phone. “Watch with caution,” it closes, “and pray that your own parents do not gain these powers.”

Techno-tweens and teens relax.

According to a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, there’s a long way to go before adults embrace interactive online media to the degree that teens have.

An estimated 64 percent of those ages 12 to 17 have created some form of online content.

While only 8 percent of adults have created a blog, 28 percent of teens have.

While 55 percent of online teens have a profile on a social network, such as Facebook or MySpace, only 20 percent of adult users do.

And while 27 percent of teens have created or worked on their own Web pages, 14 percent of adults have.

Here’s a shocker. Talking to people, still relevant:

 Although e-mail is losing relevance, traditional modes of communication, such as land lines and face-to-face contact, still matter.

Pew PDF here explains that even with their love of screen time, teens report spending more time on average face to face with their friends.  That doesn’t mean they want to talk to you, face time or screen time, but does suggest human contact will remain important into the foreseeable future.

Topics: kids, moms and dads

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:00 pm on Sunday, January 6, 2008

3 Responses to “Staying Tech-Stupid”

1. saltydog Says:
   January 6th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

   Heh.

2. RebeccaH Says:
   January 6th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

   It isn’t that we can’t text message. It’s that we can’t give up actual spelling.

3. Ben Says:
   January 7th, 2008 at 3:32 am

   On most phones with T9 text input it’s easier to spell words out. I even spell out numbers because it is (or feels) quicker than switching to numeric input and back again.

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