14 DAY TRIAL // I really missed one of those old-school polls that actually deliver interesting information in such a way that it appeals to everybody out there. I mean shopping periods are fine, political beliefs are ok, but there's a big category of people who aren't really interested in those because it's not their cup of tea per se. On the other hand, everybody uses IM and if they don't, at least they know what it's all about, it's not like a "do you support the Bill against Possum killing between 8 and 9 in the morning, their shower time, and the third amendment stipulated on the second page?" moment.
Instant messaging is one of the things to be doing at the moment, both teenagers and adults are at it so it has a good reach within the population. The one thing that differs between the two age categories is the personal reasons for going online and chatting. Adults, in a 78 percentage have the purpose of sending messages from work. Teenagers, however, have a completely different approach to IM's: they use it to say things they wouldn't express in person.
And I do believe that is worthy of a more thorough analysis. What are some of the things the young would rather not say in person or over the phone? The first thing that pops to mind is the relationship talk, both at the beginning and the end of it, with a little more emphasis on the latter. It's a lot safer to say things that might upset the other (and I do believe a break-up would) from behind a glass wall or when moving in the opposite direction? but that's not always possible. Face-to-face talks seem to frighten many people to death, although they would ultimately solve the problem better while hiding behind a screen name and the other's inability to see your reaction seem to be the high selling points for this practice.
"Overall, nearly half of teens age 13 to 18 said they use instant messaging, those staccato, Internet-borne strings of real-time chatter often coupled with enough frenzied multitasking to fry the typical adult brain. Only about one in five adults said they use IMs - though usually with less technological aplomb or hormone-driven social drama", notes Alan Fram and Trevor Thompson of the AP.
Although the IM programs have built in audio and video chat features, only one in five admitted to using them and the teenagers are most obviously attracted to these flashy additions. The same percentage, almost 20% of the teens say that they send more than 100 IMs a day and that is triple the number of adults to do that. Three fourths of the grownups on the other hand send more emails than IMs, whilst the percentage of teens to do the opposite is more or less equal.
The online survey of 410 teens and 836 adults was conducted from Oct. 25-Nov. 5 by Knowledge Networks. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 6 percentage points for teens and 4.3 points for adults.