U.S. teenagers prefer instant messaging to connect with each other

Teen survey: E-mail is, like, so yesterday U.S. teenagers prefer instant messaging to connect with each other

News Story by Reuters

JULY 28, 2005 (REUTERS) - E-mail is for grown-ups, as U.S. teenagers now prefer instant messaging to communicate with each other online, according to a survey released yesterday by the nonprofit Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Internet users from 12 to 17 years old say e-mail is best for talking to parents or institutions, but they are more likely to fire up instant messaging when talking with each other, the survey found.

While e-mail is still used by 90% of online teens, the survey found greater enthusiasm for IM. Three-quarters of teen Internet users use instant messaging, compared with 42% of adults, Pew said. Nearly half of teens said they exchanged IMs daily, and some said they spent more than two hours each day using instant messenger programs.

Half or nearly half of the 1,100 teenagers surveyed said they use IM to send Web links or photos to each other, while nearly one-third said they had sent music or video clips. Adults were much less likely to do any of those things, the survey found.

Nearly nine out of 10 teenagers said they use the Internet, up from 74% in 2000. Those who are still not online are likely to be so poor that they have limited access to technology, the survey found, and are disproportionately minorities.

The survey, conducted in October and November 2004, has a margin of error of four percentage points.