Selected news stories about the Pew Internet Project and articles citing our data.
Growing up online
9/24/2005 | 
Coverage
Ana Veciana-Suarez, The Miami Herald
'"Growing up in Queens, N.Y., Antoinette Schreffler knew of one quick and easy way to keep in touch with her friends. She walked over to their houses.
Her daughter Samantha, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, wouldn't think of hoofing around her Coral Springs neighborhood. Instead, she heads over to the family computer and Instant Messages her buddies during online sessions that discuss everything from homework to boys to places they'll meet over the weekend -- all in an abbreviated staccato language that rings foreign to most parents.
Like Samantha, today's youngsters are relying more on new methods of communication and less on traditional sources to talk with friends, to do homework, to plan their outings, to stay in touch with parents, and to keep tabs on pals who live crosstown or cross-country. Cell phones, IM, text messaging, e-mail, iPods, video games -- all have changed the way teens, particularly middle schoolers, socialize.
In the ever-changing world that youngsters tap and dial into, IM reigns supreme because of its accessibility. ''I can't hang out in the mall by myself because my mother won't let me, but I can IM,'' says Gabriela Gross, a sixth-grader at Highland Oaks Middle School. ``All my friends are on and I can do a chat with 10 people all at once if I want to.''
And while technology affords teens an independence they didn't have a generation ago, it also gives them an early entry into the adult world -- both the good and the bad. Seventy-six percent of teens get their news online, a whopping increase from the 38 percent who did so in 2000, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. They also surf the net to obtain health information (31 percent) and make purchases (43 percent)."
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