The Internet. For the Kids.
April 25th, 2008 | by Brad King |There’s a new study by eMarketer that found that more than 90 percent of kids are online these days, and that most parents say 11-13 years old is the proper time for kids to start using email.
In other words, the digital switch is on. For real this time.
There’s a lot of discussion these days about how people are using the Internet, the Web and social media tools the enable the close interaction with friends — and online friends. There’s talk about writing and reading. There’s talk about the breakdown of communication.
But realize there are some fundamental logic flaws in much of the analysis. We are still trying to template offline constructs with online realities. The two worlds are fundamentally different from each other, although the resemble each other just enough that people confuse them.
Here are some of the startling fact about who is using the net, straight from eMarketer:
Demographic profile of US Teens Who Use the Internet or Email
Gender
- Male: 93 percent
- Female: 95 percent
Age
- 12-14: 92 percent
- 15-17: 96 percent
Race
- White: 96 percent
- Black: 92 percent
- Hispanic: 87 percent
What’s even cooler as you read through this little press release is that students differentiate between writing they do for assignments and writing they do for their friends.
They understand there is an inherent difference between the communications. Now, that doesn’t mean that we stop teaching them the difference. What it does mean is that in 10 years when these 17 year olds are 27 years old, they are going to have a native understanding about communication that we can’t truly grasp today.
At least, most of us won’t because most of us won’t continue to keep up with the modern world.
In ten years, the modern journalist will be the traditional journalist all over again. I will be the dinosaur that I rail against today.
For now, though, it’s important that we realize that Andrew Keen isn’t necessarily correct when he says that social media is destroying culture. We are simply living in a time of cultural upheaval.
And that’s a good thing.
