Amanda Lenhart spoke to the “Media and the Well-Being of Children and Adolescents” conference at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The conference brought together academics, researchers, non-profits and industry to discuss the effects of media on child mental and physical health and well-being. In her talk, Amanda focused on bringing together data that highlights the demographic differences among groups of youth in their adoption, use and experiences with technology and social media. While such data may have illustrated what was called a “digital divide” in the past, it now highlights a variety of digital differences among groups of youth. This talk brings together data previously shared in a variety of reports on youth as well as some new analysis.

1. Digital Divides
and Bridges:
Technology Use
Among Youth
Amanda Lenhart | Pew Research Center
Annenberg
April 13, 2012

2. Internet adoption over time by teens & adults
% within each age group who go online
100%
95%
94%
90%
87%
80% •
74%
70%
60% 12-17
18-29
50%
30-49
40% 41% 50-64
65+
30%
20%
10%
0%
Nov 04 Nov 06 Nov 07 Feb 08 Sept 09 July 11
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3. 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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5. 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
• Once cell ownership hurdle
is crossed, no differences in
smartphone ownership by
race, income.
• 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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7. Teen social network & Twitter use
Based on teen internet users
100%
80%
80% 73%
65%
60%
60% 55%
40%
16%
20%
8%
0%
Nov 2006 Nov 2007 Feb 2008 Sept 2009 July 2011
Use online social networking sites Use Twitter
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8. 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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9. Teens’ privacy settings on social media sites
Based on teen SNS or Twitter users (n=623)
2%
17% Public
Partially
Private
19% Private
(friends only)
62%
Don't know /
Refused
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10. Are people your age mostly kind or mostly unkind to
one another on social network sites?
% of teens and adults who use social media
teens 12-17 (n=623) adults 18+ (n=1047)
69%
People are mostly kind
85%*
20%*
People are mostly unkind
5%
11%*
Depends
5%
1%
Don't know
4%
0%
Refused
1%
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11. How often do you witness online cruelty &
meanness?
% of teens and adults who use social media
teens 12-17 (n=623) adults 18+ (n=1047)
Frequently 12%*
7%
Sometimes 29%*
18%
Only once in a while 47%
44%
Never 11%
29%*
Don't know 1%
2%
.
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12. In the past 12 months when you have
been on a social network site, has
anyone been mean or cruel to you?
% of teens and adults who use social media
teens 12-17 (n=623) adults 18+ (n=1047)
Yes 15%
13%
No 85%
86%
Don't know 0%
1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
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13. Have you ever received advice about how to
use the internet and cell phones responsibly
and safely from any of these people or
places?
Parents 86%
Teacher or another adult at school 70%
Television, radio, newspapers or magazines 54%
Sister, brother or cousin 46%
Older relative like an aunt, uncle or grandparent 45%
Friend or schoolmate 45%
Youth or church group leader, or coach 40%
Websites 34%
Internet or cell phone service provider 21%
Librarian 18%
Someone or somewhere else 10%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
% of teen internet or cell phone users (n=778)
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14. Final thoughts
• Digital differences have moved beyond classic
access issues of the last decade
• Mobile is a more universal access point
• But may be exposing some of our children to
meanness and cruelty
• Newer differences should not be immediately
pathologized
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15. New Pew Report:
Digital Differences
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Digital-
differences.aspx
Amanda Lenhart
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org
@amanda_lenhart
photo by arcticpenguin
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