Copyright 2001 Gannett Company, Inc.  
USA TODAY

June 21, 2001, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 1D

LENGTH: 496 words

HEADLINE: Online teens are instantly in touch

BYLINE: Karen Thomas

BODY:
It hasn't yet replaced the telephone, but instant messaging is
becoming an indispensable means of teen socialization, according
to a study out today.


Nearly three out of four online teens -- 13 million -- use instant
messages (IMs), according to the study of kids ages 12 to 17 from
the Pew Internet & American Life Project.


Instant messaging, which requires downloadable software (or comes
built in with America Online and some other Net providers), allows
users to carry on one or more real-time conversations simultaneously
in text windows that pop up on a user's computer screen.


Overall, 73% of kids 12 to 17 are online in the USA. One in five
consider IMs their primary form of keeping in touch with friends;
37% use IM conversation to say something to a friend they wouldn't
say face-to-face or by phone.


The report says teens use IMs to communicate with teachers about
schoolwork, flirt, ask someone out and even break up. Many teens
now give out their user name instead of their phone number to
potential friends and dates.


"Everything they talk about in the offline world has migrated
online," says Pew's Amanda Lenhart, principal author of the study.
"Some of the most difficult conversations these kids have happen
over instant messaging."


In fact, the phenomenon of carrying on multiple individual conversations
simultaneously, never possible before instant messaging, is so
prevalent that sci- entists have given it a name: split attention.
On average, a teen IM session includes online chat with more than
three friends simultaneously, Pew says.


"It's a skill, maybe an ability, but it's something our young
people can do," says Joseph Walther, a communications professor
at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and editor
of the Journal of Online Behavior. He says researchers
at Cornell University define split or simultaneous attention as
the "capacity to do two different communication skills at the
same time."


What's not clear is "whether adults can develop this capacity,"
Walther adds. According to Pew's survey of 754 kids and 754 parents,
less than half (44%) of online adults have ever used instant messaging.


Among other findings:


* Most online teens (69%) engage in IM conversations several
times weekly; 35% IM every day; 45% IM every time they go online.


* Close to half of teens (46%) say they spend between a
half-hour and an hour on instant messaging each session; and an
additional 21% say they spend more than an hour on a typical session.


But there's a flip side to continuous conversation. Cornell found
that some students were using wireless devices to IM friends during
class while pretending to take notes and had lower grades.


Another study released last month found that college students
-- especially lonely freshmen -- who stayed up late to IM high
school friends tended to miss more classes and be unprepared for
coursework.





GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC, Color, Julie Snider, USA TODAY, Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project (Bar graph, Illustration)

LOAD-DATE: June 21, 2001