Latest Pew Research Center Survey Indicates Smartphone Use Among Teens has Grown

Kids of all ages have been using mobile phones to make and receive telephone calls. Nowadays, with the arrival of smartphones, which are built with operating systems for computing capabilities and include applications for all sorts of tasks and often high-resolution touchscreens, teens are turning to them more often. Smartphones make information easily accessible and faster, but kids seem to agree that the new devices are less than ideal for heavy text input.

The smartphone revolution has really taken off thanks to the ability to access the Internet to check mail, navigate the Web, use one of the many social networking sites, and many apps for different tasks and information gathering and sharing. Smartphones first gained considerable popularity in the world among business people, then adults, then down to teenagers and younger children, as the devices became more affordable and geared toward social interaction.

At present, it seems there is no turning back, unless, of course, users are not interested in running programs or want to make use of system apps or have an interest to access the Web.

Normally, adults rely on a smartphone for work, adolescents on the other hand depend on them for leisure, as shown in a released Pew Research Center survey. It reveals that “[o]ne in four teens are ‘cell-mostly’ Internet users.”

What this means is that smartphone use among American teens has increased substantially, at least judging from those 802 parents and teenagers who were surveyed.

Their findings show that mobile access to the Internet has escalated. The report implies that 37 percent of teens between the ages 12 to 17 tap into the Web using a smartphone. That number has gone up from 23 percent in 2011. The figure even rises to 44 percent for those ages 14 to 17.

Even though there are still indications that most teens may still own a cell phone rather than a smartphone, 78 percent compared to 47 percent, the adoption of the latter has risen from a year ago.

The Pew report also states how three in four teenagers, about 74 percent, have declared they have used their smartphone purposely for Internet use—as a route to the Web; mainly for social media and texting.

For those that do not have a smartphone, the survey showed that 93 percent of teenagers turn to a computer to access the Internet. It just goes to show how much it is important for teens to have a connection to the Web, whether it’s from a cell phone or a PC.