A complete lesson plan about teenagers and technology (2011)

1. Teenagers and technology: 'I'd rather give up my kidney than my phone' A lesson plan by Sandy Millin @sandymillin Based on an article in The Guardian, 16 July 2010: http://bit.ly/emo58l

2. Who…? What…? What…? Where…? Why…? How…? When…? Image: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/16/teenagers-mobiles-facebook-social-networking?intcmp=239

4. Finish the text… "I'd rather," _________ PhilippaGrogan, 16, "give up, ___________ than __________. How did you manage before? ___________? _______? ________ ______________ houses on ________?" Cameron Kirk, 14, reckons he spends ”___________________ _____ on school days" ___________ with his _______ Facebookfriends; maybe __________ at weekends. "It's _________________ if _____________________ ___________. Unfortunately, ___________________ doesn't _______________. But it's OK; ___________ ____________."

5. Is this like your life? "I'd rather," deadpans Philippa Grogan, 16, "give up, like, a kidney than my phone. How did you manage before? Carrier pigeons? Letters? Going round each others' houses on BIKES?" Cameron Kirk, 14, reckons he spends "an hour, hour-and-a-half on school days" hanging out with his 450-odd Facebook friends; maybe twice that at weekends. "It's actually very practical if you forget what that day's homework is. Unfortunately, one of my best friends doesn't have Facebook. But it's OK; we talk on our PlayStations."

6. How would you feel? "We went to Wales for a week at half term to revise. There was no mobile, no TV, no broadband. We had to drive into town just to get a signal.” Emily Hooley, 16 Emily Hooley, 16, recalls a Very Dark Moment: “It was really hard, knowing people were texting you, writing on your Wall, and you couldn't respond. Loads of my friends said they'd just never do that."

7. What can you use a mobile phone for? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/IPhone_4_Black.jpg/512px-IPhone_4_Black.jpg

8. Pew Internet & American Life Project They study the internet's impact on the lives of 21st-century citizens. They have been studying the way teens use mobile phones, including text messages, since 2006. Since 2007, it has been recording the use teenagers make of the net, in particular their mass adoption of social networking sites. What do you think they have found?

9. Mobile Phones: Texting 75% 58% teenagers 12-year-olds mobile~phone 90% phone-owning~teens send receive texts daily half 50~or~more a~day one~in~three 100 preferred basic~communication their~friends teens

10. Mobile Phones: Texting 75% of all teenagers have a mobile phone… …as well as 58% of 12-year-olds. Almost 90% of phone-owning teens send and receive texts, most of them daily. Half send 50 or more texts a day; one in three send 100. Texting is easily "the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends” Do you think this is true in your country too?

11. Mobile Phones: Other More than 80% of phone-owning teens… 64% use them… 60%... 46%... 32%... 23%... …listen to music on them. …use them to take pictures. …access social networking sites. …to share those pictures with others. …swap videos. …play games. What do you use your mobile phone for?

12. Philippa reckons she sends "probably about 30" text messages every day, and receives as many. "They're about meeting up – where are you, see you in 10, that kind of thing," she says. "There's an awful lot of flirting goes on, of course. Or it's, 'OMG, what's biology homework?'. And, 'I'm babysitting and I'm SOOOO bored.'" Do you use your phone for the same things?

13. Do you phone people? Philippa wouldn't dream of using her phone to actually phone anyone, except perhaps her parents – to placate them if she's not where she should be, or ask them to come and pick her up if she is. Calls are expensive, and you can't make them in class (you shouldn't text in class either, but "lots of people do").

14. _______% of teens use social networking sites, mostly __________; _______% more than three years ago. 73 facebook 50

15. Which social networking sites do you use? When did you join them? How long do you use them for each day / week? What time of day do you use facebook? How many facebook friends do you have? How many of your facebook friends do you know? What do you use facebook for? Do you think you have a “social life outside your bedroom”?

16. “Digital communication is not just prevalent in teenagers' lives. It IS teenagers' lives.” Do you agree?

17. The Dangers

19. Your turn… Video Voicethread Glog Blog