Technology Has Tremendous Impact on How Teens Communicate

Technology Has Tremendous Impact on How Teens Communicate
American teens now live in a world in which the Internet, cell phones, text messaging and other technology dominate their communication and are an integral part of life as they understand it.
Despite the hype about very public breakups using modern technology, young people still seem to grasp the rules for these communication tools and know when it is appropriate to use these items to gather information and when to avoid them altogether.
According to Suzanne Martin, Ph.D., Youth and Education Researcher at Harris Interactive, "Teens utilize different modes of communication in different social contexts".
When the tone of a communication is serious, such as arguing and breaking up with someone, teens realize that communication tools may not be the best avenue of discussion. Two in three teens (67%) would not break up with someone and two in five (42%) would not argue with a friend over phones, email, instant messaging, text messaging, or social networking sites.
When choosing a communication tool, teens will most likely choose to use cell phones and landline phones to talk to a friend about something serious or important (cell phone 34%, landline phone 23%); apologize to a friend (cell phone 22%, landline phone 20%); or break up with someone (cell phone 14%, landline phone 9%).
Teens are cautious when using technology
Caution abound, teens generally shy away from using certain communication tools to discuss personal items. About one in three teens say they are not comfortable gossiping, sharing secrets or having private conversations using phones, email, instant or text messaging. Teens feel more comfortable discussing touchy subjects when using instant messaging (29%), than cell phones (14%), text messaging (11%) and social networking websites (10%).
Overall, teens are most comfortable using cell phones, instant messaging and landline phones to have a private conversation (cell phone 29%, instant...