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Report on Teen Tech Week 2008 Survey
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
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A total 528 people responded to our Teen Tech Week survey: 460 girls, along with 55 boys, and 13 individuals who chose not to report their gender. We heard from ages ranging from eight to over 22 years old. Responders were from around the world, and from all different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Finally, responders told us that they were made up of the eldest, middle, youngest, or only children in their families.
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| What is your racial/ethnic background? |
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The overwhelming majority of survey-takers, who responded to this question, told us that they were at least somewhat comfortable with technology. Only 16 individuals reported that they felt "not really" comfortable using technology. Most, were either very comfortable with technology (135) or fairly (268) comfortable. They also told us where they used the Internet, which is most often in their own homes (438), but others said that they used the Internet at school (39) or the library (18). The rest tended to use the Internet at other people's homes, or "on the go" with cell phones or other personal communication devices. They also responded by saying that they spent generally less than ten hours online per week: less than two (108), three-six (152), and seven-ten (117) were the answers most commonly chosen.
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| Where do you use the Internet the most? |
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count | percent |
where use
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| home |
438 | 82.95 |
| school |
39 | 7.39 |
| library |
18 | 3.41 |
| other house |
9 | 1.7 |
| one the go |
14 | 2.65 |
| other |
10 | 1.89 |
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The survey went on to inquire what kinds of things teens were doing when they went online. The biggest response was email (375), research or homework tasks (346), and downloading or listening to music (329). They also engaged in simply general surfing of the web (292), playing online games (289), and instant messaging (283). So, it seems that from those responding to the survey, the Internet was social and personal, as well as educational and entertaining - a place where they can ask questions, or look things up, or talk to friends and pursue their musical interests.
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Some of the survey-takers have had experience with social networking websites. Not surprisingly, MySpace and FaceBook were most popular; 206 and 138 survey-takers had used these sites, respectively. They also had experience with web 2.0. About half of the responders said that they'd made a profile online before (313). Others said that they'd made a photo slideshow (161) or avatar (159) at other times.
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| What social networking sites do you use? |
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The teens taking our survey were not without Internet restrictions, however. The three biggest restrictions on their access were that they were not allowed to post certain information about themselves (188), or allowed on certain websites (178). Some reported being kept from social networking websites that others their age might use (113). Other possible restrictions were reported remarkably less often. For example, only 16 survey-takers said that they were only allowed to use the Internet for homework purposes. It seems that certain websites, certain information, and the potential (mis)uses of social networking websites were the biggest concerns of the teens' caretakers.
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In terms of technology dissemination, iPods, cell phones, and cameras were the most common devices which the teens told us they owned themselves (395, 387, and 306, respectively). Interestingly, teens are playing online or computer games more than they are playing videogames. About 60% play online or computer games every day, or two or three times per week (163 and 141). Conversely, about the same amount, that is, 58% of teens, said that they did not play videogames at all, or if they did, they played them only a couple times per month (142 and 150).
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| I have my own... |
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The survey asked teens questions about their school library use as well. There were those who used their school library weekly (109), daily (92), or even biweekly (70), but notably there were some who said that their school did not have a library at all (47). Additionally, the large majority reported that their communities have libraries (465), but there were some who were unsure whether or not their community had its own library (22), which is again, a small but important number. Only 75 survey-takers told us that their public library celebrated Teen Tech week. Some 105 said that theirs did not, and 318 were unsure.
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| Does your public library celebrate Teen Tech Week? |
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Libraries might provide some of the teens with access to technology they may not own themselves. Their school libraries had available for check-out: audio books (183), DVDs (133), and laptop computers (85) amongst other things like computer software or cameras, which were reported available less often for check-out. Public libraries, on the other hand, were more likely to offer audio books (343), DVDs (335), and music CDs (266) rather than laptops, for check-out. It seems that public libraries were making other Internet communication technologies available too. Teens told us that their public libraries had wireless Internet (268), color printers (252), and computer scanners (187). Again, it seems that school libraries were offering similar information technologies, with making laptops available to students a key difference. It was reported that school libraries offered wireless Internet (203) and color printers (194) as the two top Internet communication technologies, just as the public libraries. Where school and public libraries differed was that the third highest technology made available to users was computer scanners in a public library, and laptop computers in a school library (141).
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Other web services that teen survey-takers had used were databases and online reference help. Around 60% of the teens who responded to our survey had used online research databases (306) and many had made use of the reference help (212). Finally, teens had suggestions for their public libraries. They felt that they would prefer faster computers (271), more computers (261), and laptop computers available for check-out (258).
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2007.
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