Think culture isn’t changing? Take a look at today’s teen/young adult, those born between 2000 and 1993 (the middle cohorts of the Millennial Generation [1984/85 – 2004/05]), through the lens of various data points. Below you will see various data info points from various research agencies along with my commentary on the data.
- 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.
- 80% of teens have their OWN desktop or laptop computer.
Technology is omnipresent. Period. It is not going away. There is no “digital divide” at least not in terms of who does and who does not have a computer. At best, there is a slight divide between those who have their OWN PRIVATE computer and one they have to share with others. Almost one in four (23%) have a tablet, a growing number in the few years since the iPad came out, and indicates teens actually have multiple access points to the Internet (many have not only a way to access the Internet via a phone, a computer and a tablet, but also other devices like an iPod, mobile gaming devices like Nintendo’s DS, Internet enabled TVs or Blu-ray player and finally through gaming systems like X-box or Playstation). However, this lack of digital divide does not indicate true comfort or user activity online; the real divide lays there between those who merely use their devices to reach Facebook and others who know many of the core basic ideas of technology usage.
Readwrite.com article, based also on Pew Research
- Among teens with a smartphone, however, 50% access the Internet primarily via the mobile device.
- 74% of teens ages 12-17 are “mobile internet users” who say they access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices at least occasionally
- Girls are more likely than boys to rely on their smartphone as their primary Internet access device.
This data continues the information from the previous data that Pew showed. Here we see that Internet usage no longer is a stable proposition, something done in a “place” (work, home, school). Now it is mobile. I have always thought the term “smartphone” was a silly term. What people are buying is a mini-computer that happens to have an application that allows for voice talk (and probably a few different such options). The “phone” is merely an underused tool of the mini-computer, especially among teens. However, having a computer that you can put into your pocket means that access is everywhere, all the time. For professors and parents, this demands a massive shift in what has been done with computers and/or to limit Internet access. This shift will be difficult since, according to Pew, less than 34% of adults over age 50 own a smartphone (37% of teens plus 66% of young adults 18-29 own a smartphone).
U-M Transportation Research Institute Teens getting driver’s License declines:
Here is some of the data for 17-year-olds:
• 1983 – 69% had their licenses
• 2008 – 50% had their licenses
• 2010 – 46% had their license
This is perhaps the most stunning piece of information, though I did hear something similar earlier in the 2000s. The bottom line is that teens either see no real good reason to get a license, parents have decided all the info about dangerous teen driving is true, or teens believe that the idea of “self freedom” no longer demands a set of wheels. Perhaps it is all three, but I would put my money on the last one. The idea of getting your license “back in the day” was almost totally connected to finally achieving a freedom from the parents. Now I could drive myself to school or to see friends. My parents were actually excited that I could drive as now they wouldn’t have to come to the high school to pick me up late after basketball games, and I could drive myself to youth group and church choir practice. Today’s teen finds that sense of freedom and connection from the Internet.
The article linked above from U of M shows that back in 1983, about 87 percent of 19-year-olds, 80 percent of 18-year-olds and 69 percent of 17-year-olds owned a driver’s license. I was one of the 87% of 19 year olds. Twenty-five years later in 2008, the percentages were 75, 65 and 50, respectively. The almost 20% drop among 17 year olds is perhaps the more startling. In 2010, those numbers plummeted even more: about 70 percent of 19-year-olds, 61 percent of 18-year-olds and 46 percent of 17-year-olds had a driver’s license. While this shows that as young drivers age, they do get their licenses (so in 2008, 50% of 17 year olds had it, two years later that had risen to 70%) that still means 17% less 19 year olds had a license than in 1983.
Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group.
I first saw this information in a recent Wired article about the current 20 years olds (those born in 1993, the same year the magazine came out). As you can see, less than 40% of teens use their phones for the point…for actually phoning someone to talk them. They will call their parents (or more likely their parents call them), but the communication tool most used is texting. And at the bottom, the least used way of communication? Email. This fact is more disturbing than the phone info, especially for industries like “Higher Education” who think they are being “cutting edge” because they provide students with a school email.
Worse, this bodes ill when a large percentage of older adults 65 or older never go online at all (48% according to Pew) and only 77% of 50-64 do so. 77% seems high till it is compared to the 95% of 18-29 and teens. A very large majority of professors and upper administrators are in that 50-older category. They are the ones making the determination about connection with students.
There is obviously more to be mined from this data. I will write more later about the Wired article, but for now, just see this data as key information for understanding the changing, shifting culture in which we live. There is no going back. We are on their planet now. Get used to it.