Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Technology and adolescents: Perspectives on the things to come

  • Published:
Education and Information Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Assuming that, given the processes of technology diffusion, adolescent behavior forecasts future consumption of digital information, it would seem pertinent to study the characteristics of teenager technology use. This research asks: What are the key patterns regarding the use of technology platforms by teenagers? Is technology usage among teenagers shaped by schools' disparate teaching philosophies and cultures? How is technology usage impacting the consumption of traditional print media? A survey designed to determine how high school students use technology was administered at a private boarding school in New Hampshire and a public school in New York. The research concluded that individuals' residing environment and context shape ICT adoption. School culture and geographic context drive behavioral technology usage patterns. Furthermore, consumption of information appears to be guided by a principle of complementarity. However, technology substitution should not be discarded. Finally, school culture incorporating and promoting technology use may contribute positively to knowledge acquisition, although technology adoption without controls could negatively impact the teaching experience. While directionally valid, the study results need to be validated by statistical research and case studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The survey is included in the appendix of a working paper that can be downloaded from http://citi.columbia.edu.

  2. “Stalking” is a term used to describe the action of visiting the profile of a Facebook friend who does not belong in the user’s close social circle.

  3. Only high school students from ICE were recorded and analyzed for the purpose of the study, however the demographics represent the school as a whole.

  4. See Tables 17, 18, and 19 in appendix.

  5. Frequency and allocation of time changes, as expected, during weekends only for the technologies where data was captured (see Table 12 in appendix). Total exposure to television and PC jumps on weekends, as expected. However, ICE students watch more than twice the amount of television than St. Paul’s students do, and marginally use their computers more. Girls at ICE tend to watch more television than boys on weekends.

  6. See Table 20 in appendix or technology usage on week-ends.

  7. Lampe (2009) found in his research of Facebook behavior among college students that the average total number of “friends” had increased from 338 in 2006 to 441 in 2008.

  8. Lampe also determined that 79 % of college students spend 15 min per day on Facebook, while 9 % spend over 2 h

  9. We consider the 27 responses stating more than 160 min as being misinterpreted answers, which based the estimate as time the platform was open on the screen although the user was not necessarily interacting with it.

References

  • Chen, M. (1990). Gender and computers: The beneficial effects of experience on attitudes. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2(3), 1–1. Web. April 4, 2013.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Children and parents: Media use and attitudes report (2011). Rep. OFCOM. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

  • Couldry, N. (2008). Mediatization or mediation? Alternative understandings of the emergent space of digital storytelling. New Media & Society, 10(3), 373–391. Sage Publications. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coyle, C. L., & Vaughn, H. (2008). Social networking: Communication revolution or evolution? Bell Labs Technical Journal, 13, 13–17. Web. 1 Aug. 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, E., Karahalios, K., Sandvig, C. (2008). The network in the garden: An empirical analysis of social media in rural life. Proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. 1603–1612. Web. 31 Jul. 2012.

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City: Doubleday. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenhow, C., Walker, J. D., & Kim, S. (2009). Millennial learners and net savvy teens? Examining internet use among low income students. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 26(2). Web. 1 Aug. 2012.

  • Gross, E. F. (2004). Adolescent Internet use: What we expect, what teens report. Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 633–649. Web. 30 Jul. 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hampton, K., Goulet, L., Rainie, L., Purcell, K. (2011). Social networking sites and our lives. Rep. Pew Research Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

  • Hepp, A. (2011). Mediatization and the ‘molding force’ of the media. The International Communications Association’s 2011 Virtual Conference. Web. 3 Apr. 2013

  • Hjarvard, S. (2008). The mediatization of society. A theory of the media as agents of social and cultural change. Nordicom Review, 29.2, 105–134. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, H. J. (2010). Daily media use among children and teens up dramatically from five years ago. Menlo Park: Henry J Kaiser Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koprowski, G.J. (2006). Digital divide separates rural, urban Internet users. Tech News World. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

  • Krotz, F. (2007). Mediatisierung: Fallstudien zum Wandel von Kommunikation. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Socialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lampe, C. (2009). Trends in the facebook use amongst college students. Presentation at Columbia Institute for Tele-Information conference. April 17, 2009.

  • Lenhart, A., Smith, A., Macgill, A. R., & Arafeh, S. (2010a). Writing, technology and teens. Washington, DC: Pew Research Publications. Web. 2 Aug. 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenhart, A., Kling, R., Campbell, S. (2010b) Teens and mobile use. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Web. 2 Aug. 2012.

  • Livingstone, S. (2003). Children’s use of the internet: Reflections on the emerging research agenda. New Media & Society, 5(2), 147–166. LSE Research Online. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Duggan, M., Gasser, U., Cortesi, S. (2013). Teens & technology 2013. Retrieved April 04, 2013, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-and-Tech.aspx.

  • Mazman, Y. (2011). Gender differences in using social networks. Hacettepe University 10(2). Web. 31 Jul. 2012.

  • McLuhan, M., & Fiore, Q. (1967). The medium is the message. New York: Random House. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, S. (2011). Minority, low-income teens likely to use phones to get online. Tech News Daily. Web. 31 Jul. 2012.

  • Offerman, S. (2012) 2012 adobe digital video advertising report. Web. 30 Jul. 2012.

  • Piskorski, M. (2009). Networks as covers: Evidence from business and social on-line networks. Harvard Business School Working Paper OMT 10624

  • Rideout, V., Saphir, M. (2012). Social media, social life: How teens view their digital lives. Common Sense Media Research Study Web. 30 Jul. 2012.

  • Schiano, D.J., Chen, C.P., Ginsberg, J., Gretarsdottir, U., Isaacs, E., Huddleston, M. (2002). Teen use of messaging media. Web. 30 Jul. 2012.

  • Schmidbauer, M., & Löhr, P. M. (1999). Young people online. In P. M. Löhr & M. Meyer (Eds.), Children, television, and the new media: A reader of research and documentation in Germany. Luton: University of Luton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, W. (2004). Reconstructing mediatization as an analytical concept. European Journal of Communication, 19(1), 87–101. Sage Journals. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seal-Wanner, C. (2007). Teens and technology: The perfect storm? Web. 1 Aug.

  • Stanger, J. D., & Gridina, N. (1999). Media in the home, 1999: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children. Washington, D.C: Annenberg Public Policy Center. Web. 4 Apr. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thurlow, C., & McKay, S. (2003). Profiling “new” communication technologies in adolescence. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 22(1), 94–103. Web. April 4, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vahlberg, V. (2012). A survey of three studies about youth media usage. Web. 30 Jul. 2012.

  • Vann, M. (2012). Video games cut into teens’ reading, studying. ABC News. Web. 31 Jul. 2012.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by Mr. Peter J. Karp, Principal at the Institute for Collaborative Education in New York, and Mr. Thomas Bazos, Dean of Students at the St. Paul’s School. in Concord, NH. Additionally, the authors would like to acknowledge research support by Taylor Berry, from the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, as well as the feedback of three anonymous reviewers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Finance and Economics, Business Strategy Research, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, Uris Hall, 3022 Broadway, Room 1A, New York, NY, 10027-6902, USA

    Raul L. Katz

  2. St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, USA

    Max Felix

  3. Institute for Collaborative Education, New York, NY, USA

    Madlen Gubernick

Authors
  1. Raul L. Katz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Max Felix
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Madlen Gubernick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raul L. Katz.

Additional information

Raul Katz is Director of Business Strategy Research at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and Adjunct Professor in the Division of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School (Columbia University).

Max Felix is a junior at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH; he was a summer intern at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (Columbia University) during 2012.

Madlen Gubernick is a senior at the Institute for Collaborative Education in New York, NY; she was a summer intern at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (Columbia University) during 2012.

Appendices

Appendices

Table 17 Survey responses by gender
Full size table
Table 18 Survey responses by grade
Full size table
Table 19 Survey responses by age (High school only)
Full size table
Table 20 Minutes spent using technology devices (Week-ends)
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Katz, R.L., Felix, M. & Gubernick, M. Technology and adolescents: Perspectives on the things to come. Educ Inf Technol 19, 863–886 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-013-9258-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-013-9258-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation