Eclectic Technology

You heard constantly about the millennial generation--that they’re tech-savvy, and different from everyone that came before.

This infographic looks at four areas: an overview, their politics, lifestyle, education, and work.

"Do you regularly use your cell phone to coordinate meetings, solve an unexpected problem, decide which restaurant to eat at, look up the score of a sporting event, check traffic, call help in an emergency situation or find information to help settle an argument? These activities make you a “just-in-time” cell user according to the latest study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. According to this report, 70% of all cell phone owners in the U.S. and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones to perform at least one of these activities over the last 30 days."

To go directly to the Pew report:

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Just-in-time.aspx .

"This week, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of the News Media report. The following is an infographic the organization put together to spell out some of the report's biggest findings and it is used here as a guest post."

"The State of the News Media 2012 is the ninth edition of our annual report on the status of American journalism.
This year’s study contains surveys examining how news consumers use social media and how mobile devices could change the news business and an update on the rapid changes in community news. And each industry sector chapter consists of two parts: a summary essay, which tells the story of that sector, and a data section, which presents a full range of statistics graphically rendered."

Social networking really started with teens on MySpace. Since then, it has progressed to the rest of the world.

Pew Research has just published a study that looks at how teens do research in the digital world. They survey was done "in collaboration with the College Board and the National Writing Project." Below are a couple of the key findings (quoted).

* Virtually all (99%) AP and NWP teachers in this study agree with the notion that 'the internet enables students to access a wider range of resources than would otherwise be available,' and 65% agree that 'the internet makse today's students more self-sufficient.'

* Fewer teachers, but still a majority of this sample (60%), agree with the assertion that today's technologies make it harder for students to find credible sources of information.

This links to the overview. If you would like to see the full report (online or download as a pdf) click on this link: 

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Student-Research/Main-Report/Part-1.aspx.

21% of Americans have read an e-book. The increasing availability of e-content is prompting some to read more than in the past and to prefer buying books to borrowing them.

Teens are fervent communicators. Straddling childhood and adulthood, they communicate frequently with a variety of important people in their lives: friends and peers, parents, teachers, coaches...

The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. In addition, smartphones are gaining teenage users. Some 23% of all those ages 12-17 say they have a smartphone and ownership is highest among older teens: 31% of those ages 14-17 have a smartphone, compared with just 8% of youth ages 12-13.

For a look at the infographic, which looks at teens and texting, and that was published in July 2011 go to: http://blog.lab42.com/generation-text-teens-and-their-texting-habits

Looking into the proverbial crystal ball, a slew of technology experts weighed in on the Future of the Internet V survey conducted by Pew Research and Elon University, and came up with a predictably mixed scenario: It’s complicated.