Internet

Text Messaging Among U.S. Teen Explodes

May 19, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

Following our recent coverage of how young online people value their privacy, here comes another report centering on the same demographics this time looking into the exploding text messaging habit of U.S. teens. The study, conducted by Pew Internet shows how teen-agers have embraced text messaging and made it as their main communication medium among circle of friends.

According to the study, some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones. And those phones have become indispensable among teens when communicating with their friends. Around 72% of American teens engaged in text messaging. Even more interesting is the fact that more than half or 54% to be exact of American teens are daily texters. In fact, texting has overtaken other forms of interaction and communication among American teens today.

Other key findings of the Pew Internet study include:

One in three teens sends more than 100 text messages a day, or 3000 texts a month.
Calling is still a central function of the cell phone for teens and for many teens, voice is the primary mode of conversing with parents.
Girls more fully embrace most aspects of cell phone-based communication.
For parents, teens’ attachment to their phones is an area of conflict and regulation.
Most schools treat the phone as a disruptive force that must be managed and often excluded from the school and the classroom.
Cell phones help bridge the digital divide by providing internet access to less privileged teens. Still, for some teens, using the internet from their mobile phone is “too expensive.”
Cell phones are seen as a mixed blessing. Parents and teens say phones make their lives safer and more convenient. Yet both also cite new tensions connected to cell phone use.
Cell phones are not just about calling or texting – with expanding functionality, phones have become multimedia recording devices and pocket-sized internet connected computers
4% of teens say they have sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image of themselves to someone via text message

So there. Now you know what your kids are up to in case they use their mobile phones more often than you’ve expected.

Young Adults Care About Online Privacy After All

May 18, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

Who says that young online people don’t care about their privacy? If you think that the younger members of social networking sites are too careless in sharing photos of their merry-making with college friends on various social sites, well we are all wrong. According to the report of a study conducted by the University of University of California, Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania, young adults care as much about their privacy as their older American counterparts.

The study is among the first quantitative studies looking at young people’s attitudes toward privacy. And according to Mary Madded, a senior researcher at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, this will surely contradict many assumptions that have been made about young adults and their attitudes toward privacy.

The survey was conducted based on a 2009 telephone survey of 1,000 Americans aged 18 and older. It also found out that among those who responded to the survey question, 69% said that a company should be fined more than $2,500 if they violated privacy while 54% said that the fine to be imposed should be higher.

Key findings of the study are as follow:

Eighty-eight percent of people of all ages said they have refused to give out information to a business because they thought it was too personal or unnecessary. Among young adults, 82 percent have refused, compared with 85 percent of those over 65.
Most people — 86 percent — believe that anyone who posts a photo or video of them on the Internet should get their permission first, even if that photo was taken in public. Among young adults 18 to 24, 84 percent agreed — not far from the 90 percent among those 45 to 54.
Forty percent of adults ages 18 to 24 believe executives should face jail time if their company uses someone’s personal information illegally — the same as the response among those 35 to 44 years old.

via Yahoo News

Move Over iPad, Here Comes the WePad

May 17, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

There you go. What was being touted as an iPad killer even before the iPad was officially released finally gets to come out of the closet and was finally and officially launched. We’re talking about the WePad. It’s definitely not the plural form of the iPad but rather a different product, created by the German company – Neofonie.

Some of the things that we don’t know yet about WePad are pretty interesting. For example, reports said that there will be two WePad models – a 16GB WiFi and 64GB HD-capable unit. The rest of the WePad specs and features are pretty impressive, well of course if you’re looking at it from the perspective of what a tablet should be.

The WePad boasts of 11.6-inch touchscreen display, Intel Atom N450 CPU, two USB ports, onboard webcam, and of course something which has been much sought after from the iPad – Flash support.

And some of the major features that you can enjoy with the WePad include – browse the Internet, watch YouTube, check email, chat with friends on Facebook and more.

The WePad is also banking on the open-source dictum, having built the WePad’s platform on Android and Linux. So, you can just imagine the possibility of more apps coming into the WePad’s way once it becomes publicly available.

WePad is also promising something about “WeMagazine.” This is an ePublishing Open Platform that provides publishers with tools necessary to develop their publication-specific applications for the WePad.

Could the WePad revolutionize the web magazine publishing industry? Will it be able to steal the thunder away from the Apple iPad? Are Flash support and Android or Linux OS enough to convince you to get the WePad?