In a poll recently conducted by Pew Research, teenagers were shown to be more conscious of the positive and negative aspects of smartphone use than members of the previous generations may be giving them credit for.
The Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 and parents from September 26th to October 23rd. The criteria for inclusion was that the teens had to still be in their parents’ house.
72% of the teens surveyed said they often feel ‘peaceful’ without their smartphone, while only 44% said it gives them a kind of separation anxiety.
Further wisdom emerged when the teens were asked what they think a smartphone is best used for beyond phone calls, to which small minorities said it helped improve social skills or school performance. A two thirds majority of the teens instead said the smartphone made it easier for them to keep up with hobbies and interests.
When asked if they thought they spent too much, about right, or not enough, time on their smartphone, 44% of teen girls said they spent too much time, reflecting an emerging consensus among social scientists that over-connectivity and social media use is particularly disrupting to young women. By comparison, 33% of teen boys said they spent too much time on their phone.
While two-thirds majority of teens said they don’t take actions to curb their phone use, 41% of teen girls and 32% of teen boys have taken direct steps to limit their phone use, rates which go higher when asked specifically about social media apps.
72% of teens replied that going about their day without their phone makes them feel peaceful, while 74% went as far as saying it made them feel “happy”. By comparison, just 39% of teens said without their phone they’re left feeling lonely.
The data shows that teens today are well-aware of how big a disruption the advent of smartphones have been to human society, whether they are thinking specifically about “text neck” posture, underdevelopment of social skills, overconnectivity, or the potential of mental distress and time-wasting brought about by social media use.
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In fact, teens are wiser in this regard than their parents and grandparents think they are—for example, when the Pew surveyors asked parents of teens whether they found themselves distracted by their phone while talking to their teenage children, a mere 4% of adults responded that it happened often, and 27% said it happened sometimes.
But when the same question was posed to their teenage children, the frequency increased, with 8% of teens saying it happened often, and 38% saying it happened sometimes, for a total occurrence rate of 46%.
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New technologies have a way of becoming over-appreciated because of their novelty, an effect which tends to wear off over time as technologies, devices, and programs become more commonplace.
This useful and upbeat research from Pew shows that teens are learning how to moderate their smartphone usage, as well as how to identify and combat addictive use.
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