Teenagers and Technology

Editor's Notes

1. Facebook added another 275 million registered users in 2010, following growth of 200 million in 2009. Current estimates is 695,847,120 (CheckFacebook.com) Split between people below 35 and older is about even now.
2. Twitter users posting 200 Another 2011 Prediction: Twitter’s growth accelerates Another 2011 Prediction: Twitter’s growth accelerates Difference between 1. Partially closed conversation (myspace) Advantage: Twitter over Facebook: SEARCH (Local) Ref. http://www.socialmediaphilanthropy.com/2011/01/13/another-2011-prediction-twitters-growth-accelerates/
3. Youtube averaged 12 billion video views in Nov 2010 and currently over 2 billion videos watched per day
4. Teenagers are constantly looking for approval and validation. Technology like Instant Messaging and Social Networking in general plays on this behaviour pattern by providing on-going stimulus in the form of pokes, Tweets, Inbox messages, newsfeeds, etc. Identity is formed during teenager years, and the influence of social networking is creating serious gaps in the morals, ethics and identity of the users. As technical promiscuity increases, true intimacy decreases. Conversations (meaningful or not) interrupted by the beep that announces a text has arrived, and the person I'm talking to leaving the "in person" conversation for the text conversation. How is the live human interaction less valuable than the text?
5. Teenagers were the subject for the documentary by Douglas Rushkoff
6. Television Robson describes teenage viewing as erratic, claiming "they will watch a particular show at a certain time for a number of weeks . . . but then they may watch no television for weeks after the programme has ended." My expert says: "People don't go for weeks without watching telly." Gaming With consoles that connect to the internet, says Robson, online chatting between gamers is beginning to impact on mobile use: "One can speak for free over the console and so a teenager would be unwilling to pay to use a phone." My consultant remains unconvinced: "I don't know any teenagers who use their Xbox instead of a phone." The internet My insider concurs with Robson's assertion that "many teenagers use YouTube to watch videos" but disagrees with the idea that those videos are "mainly anime". "It's mainly people humiliating themselves," he says. Newspapers Robson insists that "No teenager that I know of regularly reads a newspaper." My own operative has ceased cooperating by this point, but thanks to Robson I feel able to offer my own conclusions safe in the knowledge that no teens will discover them here. Today's young persons rarely, if ever, pay for anything they can get for free. The big question then, is this: why do we care what they like?
7. The 3 main concerns parents have for their teenagers are the following: Cyber Bullying – by far the dominant form of bullying as it requires not face to face confrontations. The bane of the insecure who use social networking to lash out at others Privacy – the single biggest concern overall because so much of the activities invade privacy or completely ignore the boundaries. Google and Facebook are the single biggest perpetrators of privacy invasion as they generate their income from selling advertising over the user behaviour. Sexual Predators are no longer a special case. As society has become more and more open, there seems to be no taboos. The Internet is the easiest place where sexual predators find their victims. You have to be a willing victim to become part of this trap.
8. Rlabs are pioneers in addressing the needs of Teenagers using Technology.
9. By Sherry Bastion Imagine there's no Facebook It's easy if you try No "Friends" or "Status" No pages you can "Like" Imagine all the people Living yesterday... Imagine there's no Linkedin It isn't hard to do No "Add connections" No "People you may know" Imagine all the people Living in the past... You may say, I'm a luddite But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be unplugged Imagine there's no Twitter I wonder if you can No tweets or "fail whale" A social media ban Imagine all the people Sharing only words... You may say, I'm a luddite, But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be unplugged