Kids Prefer Instant Messaging Over Email

[Jeff]

Teenagers are snubbing email as a tool used by "old people" (read: anyone over 19), choosing instant messaging as their preferred method of communicating with friends.

According to a recent survey by the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project, Internet users between ages 12 to 17 say that email is best for communicating with parents or institutions, but prefer to use instant messaging with friends.

The survey, completed in late 2004, included responses from 1,100 teens contacted randomly by phone.

Key findings include:

• Of those surveyed, 87 per cent said they use the Internet. About half of the young people who have on-line access say they go on the Web every day, up from 42 per cent in 2000.
• Three-quarters of wired teens use instant messaging, compared with 42 per cent of on-line adults who do so. Teens most often reserve IM for friends and e-mail for adults, including parents and teachers.
• About half of families with teens who have an Internet connection have speedier broadband access, while the other half still use phone lines to connect.
• Nearly a third of teens who use IM have used it to send a music or video file.
• While 45 per cent of those surveyed have cellphones, those phones aren't necessarily the preferred mode of communication. Given a choice, about half of on-line teens still use landlines to call friends, while about a quarter prefer IMing and 12 per cent say they'd rather call a friend on a cellphone.
• Older teen girls who were surveyed, aged 15 to 17, are among the most intense users of the Internet and cellphones, including text messaging.

Amanda Lenhart, a Pew researcher, says "Teens are very selective — they're smart about their technology use," she says. "They use it for the kinds of things they need to do."

It is particularly interesting to learn that teen girls are avid users. "It debunks the myth of the tech-savvy boy," Ms. Lenhart says.

Of course, the popularity of instant messaging is no surprise to BigBlueBall fans. Instant messages are quick and easy, with the immediacy of realtime communications--instant gratification for casual conversation.

Does this survey foretell the death of email? Will today's teenager carry his or her IM habits into the workplace 10 years from now?

[Tigerblade]

true. I prefer online communication in general (although I really need to start using my cell minutes up) over offline, but I also tend to separate contacts into medium categories. Like the article said, I tend to IM friends, and use email for adults and institutions, although adults and institutions tend to be linked together. of course, if they're not online, i'll try emailing them first, then eventually call...
online conversations are easier - you can think longer before responding, and you can edit what you say before you say it if you're not quite sure if the way you're phrasing something is quite right.
of course, then you dont get the full effect of the conversation - you miss out on non-verbal cues like facial expressions, tone, and body language.

[AwesomeSauce]

Though I like to instant message friends, and I am a kid (or, uhh, teenager) I do not consider email "for old people". In fact, I would probably rather have email than IM. I can't rely on my friends to be online all the time.

[David]

It is particularly interesting to learn that teen girls are avid users. "It debunks the myth of the tech-savvy boy," Ms. Lenhart says.

Since when does Avid user == Tech savvy? Just because someone can use an IM application and send a file, they are now tech savvy? I hardly think that debunks anything at all, since I still have found few skilled teen females, and many highly skilled teen males. (Not a bash on women, I'm just telling it like it seems to be)

[Tigerblade]

why does this debunk anything at all? it doesnt contradict the fact that many males are "tech-savvy", it just points out that more girls are using these programs now than before. that doesnt derail or debunk anything, myth or otherwise. i think this study's findings have been a bit misinterpreted by someone along the line...

[Eagle_Kiwi]

Interesting survey... but my objection is the emphasis on "kids"!

I accept that "kids" prefer IM to email, but... that does NOT mean that "oldies" are somehow opposite.

I'm around 60, as are probably 200 of my friends, and I don't even bother asking most for their email addresses.

When I began internet I was virtually 95/5% email over IMs - then 5 years ago it had swung to 50/50, and now probably only 5% of my communications are via email.
Email lacks the immediacy, AND has been nearly killed/deemphasised by increasing spam.

So I feel that what that survey applies to "kids" is in fact across all ages - just a trend of the times.