The document discusses the significant changes in internet use and mobile technology among American teens and adults over the past decade. It highlights the growing importance of mobile devices for accessing information, the increasing use of social media, and the variations in technology usage based on demographics such as age, race, and income. Additionally, the report notes the implications of these trends for future information access and engagement among youth.

1. It Ain’t Heavy, It’s
My Smartphone:
American teens &
the infiltration of
mobility into their
computing lives
Amanda Lenhart | Pew Research Center
Hardwick-Day & The Lawlor Group Summer Seminar
Minneapolis
June 14, 2012

2. Title of presentation
Road Map
• The Internet: Then & Now
• Teen internet basics
• Mobile
• Video
• Social Media
• Context around teen internet and social media use
– Teen privacy choices
– School technology climate
• What it means for you
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3. The Internet:
Then and Now

4. 46% of US adults used the internet
5% had home broadband connections
53% owned a cell phone
0% connected to internet wirelessly
0% used social network sites
_________________________
Information flowed mainly one way
Information consumption was a
stationary activity
Internet Use in the U.S. in 2000
Slow, stationary connections
built around a desktop
computer

5. 82% of US adults use the internet
2/3 have broadband at home
88% have a cell phone; 46% are
smartphone users
19% have a tablet computer
19% have an e-reader
2/3 are wireless internet users
65% of online adults use SNS
The Internet in 2012
Mobile devices have
fundamentally changed the
relationship between
information, time and space
Information is now
portable, participatory, and
personal

6. The Very Nature of Information Has Changed
All around us
Cheap or free
Shaped and controlled by
consumers and networks
Designed for sharing,
participation and feedback
Immediate
Embedded in our worlds
Scarce
Expensive
Shaped and controlled
by elites
Designed for one-way,
mass consumption
Slow moving
External to our worlds
Information
was…
Information
is…

7. Information is Woven Into Our Lives
Mobile is the needle, Social Networks are the thread
Social Networks…
Surround us with
information through our
many connections
Bring us information
from multiple, varied
sources
Provide instant feedback,
meaning and context
Allow us to shape and
create information
ourselves and amplify
others’ messages
Mobile…
Moves information
with us
Makes information
accessible ANYTIME
and ANYWHERE
Puts information at
our fingertips
Magnifies the demand
for timely information
Makes information
location-sensitive

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•
Internet adoption over time by teens & adults
% within each age group who go online
95%
94%
87%
74%
41%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Nov 04 Nov 06 Nov 07 Feb 08 Sept 09 July 11
12-17
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+

10. Digging down to differences
Internet use
• Latino youth slightly less likely than whites to use the internet
(88% vs. 97%)
• Youth from low income/low SES environments slightly more likely
to go online less frequently
– more likely to say that they use the internet 1-2 days a week
or less often.
Computer ownership
• No racial or ethnic differences
• Low education households – where parents have a HS diploma
or less, are substantially less likely to have youth who say they
“own” a computer. (65% vs. 80%)
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13. % of adult cell phone owners age 18+ within each group who do the following activities with their cell phone
White, non-
Hispanic
(n=1343)
Black, non-
Hispanic
(n=232)
Hispanic
(n=196)
Send or receive text messages 70 76 83*
Take a picture 71 70 79*
Access the internet 39 56* 51*
Send a photo or video to someone 52 58 61*
Send or receive email 34 46* 43*
Download an app 28 36* 36*
Play a game 31 43* 40*
Play music 27 45* 47*
Record a video 30 41* 42*
Access a social networking site 25 39* 35*
Watch a video 21 33* 39*
Post a photo or video online 18 30* 28*
Check bank balance or do online banking 15 27* 25*
*indicates statistically significant differences compared with whites.
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 26 – May 22, 2011 Spring Tracking Survey. n=2,277 adults ages 18
and older, including 755 cell phone interviews. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.
Adult Cell Phone Activities by Race/Ethnicity

14. How Phones Function In Lives of Adults
% of US adult cell owners who had done each of the following in the 30 days prior to the survey…

15. % of cell owners in each age group who have performed these real-time activities in the previous 30 days
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Mobile Survey, March 15-April 3, 2012.
16
4
5
4
12
15
23
18
11
14
15
18
26
27
21
23
29
31
37
39
45
21%
31%
33%
45%
43%
49%
60%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Get help in an emergency situation
Get up-to-the minute traffic or public
transit info
Look up sports score
Look up something to settle an
argument
Decide whether or not to visit a
business, such as restaurant
Solve an unexpected problem
Coordinate a gathering
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
Adults Using Phones for Real-Time Information

16. Smartphone ownership
• 23% of all teens have a
smartphone; as do one third
of mobile phone owners
• Age is most important in
determining cell or
smartphone ownership
– 12-13 least likely to have a cell
phone, mostly feature phones
(8% have smartphone)
– 14-15 majority have cell
phones, but mostly feature
phones (21% smartphone)
– 16-17 majority have cell, approx
40% have smartphone
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17. Smart phone ownership (2)
• Once cell ownership
hurdle is crossed, no
differences in smartphone
ownership by race,
income.
• Avid users of social media
(91% use SNS, 25%
twitter vs. 77% use SNS,
13% twitter non-
smartphone owners
• Is it a smartphone? Latino
youth less certain that
their phone is a
smartphone (24% not
sure, vs. 10% of whites).
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19. Location-based services
• Standalone applications like Foursquare or
location features on platforms like Facebook and
Twitter
• 6% of all American teens have used a location-
based service to check in or note their location
on their cell phones.
– 8% of cell owners
– 18% of smartphone owners
– Older teens (14-17) use them more than
younger (9% vs. 1%)
– No differences in use by gender, race or SES
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26. Video
• 27% of teens record and upload video
– Boys and girls equally likely to do so (in
2006 boys were more likely)
– Social media users more likely to shoot
and share video
– No differences by race, ethnicity or
SES
26

27. Title of presentation
Video
• 13% of teens stream video live to the
internet
– Broadband users
– Social media users more likely
• Don’t know WHAT is being shared
27

28. Title of presentation
Video
• 37% of teens use video chat
– Girls chat more
– White youth chat more than Latino
Youth
– Higher SES youth more likely to chat
– Social media users chat more
28

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Teen social network & Twitter use
Based on teen internet users
55%
60%
65%
73%
80%
8%
16%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Nov 2006 Nov 2007 Feb 2008 Sept 2009 July 2011
Use online social networking sites Use Twitter

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Where do teens & adults maintain their online
social media accounts?
Based on teens/adults who use social network site(s) and/or Twitter
11%
10%
14%
87%
0%
12%
24%*
93%*
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
LinkedIn
Twitter
MySpace
Facebook
Teens Adults

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32. Differences in Social Media Use
Twitter shows big differences
– 34% of online African-American teens use Twitter
– 11% of online white teens use Twitter
– 13% of online Latino teens use Twitter
– Lower income teens (under 30K hhd inc) more likely to use
than higher income teens.
– Girls more than boys – youngest boys 12-13 are laggards
Social network site use more broadly adopted
– Lowest income teens use SNS more than highest income
teens
– Girls more than boys
– Older teens more than younger teens
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44%
73%*
79%
84%*
89%
90%*
92%*
69%*
59%
67%
68%
84%
73%
73%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Play games
Tag people in posts,
photos or videos
Send private messages to
friends
Post a photo or video
Send IM's or chat with
friends
Post a status update
Post comments on friends'
posts
Ages 12-13 (n=123) Ages 14-17 (n=500)
How younger and older teens use social media

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Teens’ privacy settings on social media sites
Based on teen SNS or Twitter users (n=623)
17%
19%
62%
2%
Public
Partially
Private
Private
(friends only)
Don't know /
Refused

37. Title of presentation
Friend Management
• 84% say all friends can see the
same thing on SNS profile,
• 15% say they limit what certain
friends can see.
• 30% have shared a password with
friend or significant other.
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39. Thinking before they post
• 55% of teens have decided not to post
something online because of concerns that it
might reflect poorly on them in the future
• Older teens withhold more than younger (59%
vs. 46%)
– 17 year olds withhold the most (67%)
• Social network users more likely to withhold
(60% vs. 34%)
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41. Parents and tech ownership
• 91% of parents of children ages 12-17 own cell phones,
• 86% of parent cell owners send and receive text messages.
– 84% of all adults have cell phones; 76% of them exchange
text messages.
• 87% of parents of teens are internet users (vs. 78% of those in
the overall adult population)
• 82% of parents have broadband connections at home (vs. 62%
of those in the overall population).
• 86% of parents of teens own laptops or desktops; 76% of those
in the overall adult population have them.
• Online parents are just as likely as the general population of
adult internet users to use social network sites;
– 67% of online parents of teens use social network sites like
Facebook or LinkedIn; 64% of all adult internet users use
SNS
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45. Summary
• Our relationship to information has radically
changed in the last 12 years.
• Digital differences have moved beyond classic
access issues of the last decade
• Mobile is a more universal access point…
• …but truly robust mobile-phone based
computing is still in the hands of relatively few
teens
• Geo-location not embraced
• Social media hugely important; tension around
privacy & management of the space
6/12/2013 45

46. What does it mean for you?
• Internet access is base – beginning to see diversification in
access points – worth starting to design for multiple
platforms.
• Mobile is increasingly important – particularly for minority, low
SES youth and families. But tends to be for real-time
information seeking – campus visit, not college research.
• Smartphones are coming, but ¾ of youth don’t have them yet
(60% of 16-17 year olds don’t have them).
• Geo-location – fun, but teens aren’t there yet – tablets too.
• Email – don’t rely on it. Many teens use it, but not frequently.
• Text-based messaging has moved into social media and
texting; teens starting to prefer text over voice.
• Facebook is dominant; but Twitter is on the rise. Watch
Tumblr.
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47. Title of presentation 6/12/2013 47
Amanda Lenhart
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org
@amanda_lenhart
photo by arcticpenguin
New Pew Report:
Digital Differences
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Digital-
differences.aspx