Teens prefer mobiles to TV, survey shows [Cellular News]
Survey results released from ACE*COMM indicate most North American parents aren’t supervising the mobile phone use of their teenaged children. Seventy-one percent of teenagers surveyed admit they enjoy unrestricted use of their mobile phones.
The Itracks survey also found that many teenagers are abusing their mobile phone privileges. More than one-third (38%) of teens surveyed use their mobile phones to text-message their friends during school, 30% play video games on their phones while in school, and more than one-quarter (26%) use their phones to talk to people their parents would not approve of. The survey also revealed that on average, teens spend almost as much time on their mobile phones as they spend doing physical activity.
According to the survey, teens are very attached to their mobile phones. Fully one half of those surveyed said they would rather have their TV privileges restricted than their mobile phone use, while more than a quarter (27%) indicated they would prefer to have Web access or use of iPods limited rather than have their mobile phones taken away”.
(via textually.org)
I have to question some of the phrases that story chose to use. Does text messaging in school equal “abusing their mobile phone privileges” — or is it merely the current version of kids doing what kids have always done? I’m surprised that the tone of the story is so negative, where other work in the same subject by people like danah boyd, Mimi Ito, and Rich Ling tends to be much more neutral.