The Ever-Evolving Internet Habits of “Kids These Days”
It’s 10 pm. Do you know where your children are? (We hope you do, but not by using this method.)
Better yet, do you know what they’re doing? I hate to tell you this, but they’re probably online. Despite the relieving news that teenagers still value face time and phone conversations, the generations are becoming more and more digitally wired, using instant messaging, texting, and internal message systems at Facebook and MySpace. Mobile phone applications on these sites are also big, though have recently run into some legal trouble. (Email is the big loser, with only 14% saying that they’re using it daily to keep in touch with friends.)
And though parents may preach of good old family values, and the dangers of becoming addicted to the Internet, 55% of all online teens use social networking sites regularly and consider them to be
"important in their social
lives." They’ve become a way not just to communicate short messages, but to share content. More than half have shared photos, videos or other artistic work
online. And the SF Chronicle reports that two-thirds have "created something online, whether it’s a personal Web page or a remixed video". Yes, they truly are the mashup generation. I don’t know about you, but I think this is much, much better than gaming, which is still the #1 online activity of the age 6-11 set.
Still freaked out? Check out the Parent’s Guide to Social Networking: Helping Your Kids Socialize Safely Online. Or switch your focus a bit to yourself. Many moms have been feeling undervalued, ignored, and left out of the experience — by marketers, too. Don’t fall into the trap of advertising to kids, who are easily drawn in. Easy come, easy go. Mothers, on the other hand, if you do it right, are in it for the long haul.
