Kids & Family

Poll: Is Your Kid a Talker or a Texter?

Despite the rise of digital communication, a new study shows talking still beats out texting as the preferred mode of social networking among teens.

 

They are informally known as "Gen S", the tech-savvy tweens and teens for whom social media has become a birthright, and electronic devices are standard issue once they demonstrate an ability to grasp a smartphone. They've never known life without Facebook.

According to a survey by the San Francisco non-profit Common Sense Media and reported in Monday's San Jose Mercury News, 90 percent of 13-17-year-olds have tried some form of social media, mostly Facebook.

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The survey of 1,030 teens showed that 87 percent have exchanged text messages, with 68 percent texting at least once daily.

However, the survey also found that talking face-to-face still beats out texting when it comes to communicating with friends, with teens saying it is more fun and easier to understand what people are saying when talking to them directly.

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The downside to all of this connectivity according to the Mercury News article, is that 41 percent of teens surveyed said they were "addicted" to their phones and 43 percent said they wished they could unplug once in a while.

How do the tweens and teens in your family communicate with each other and with you? Take our poll and tell us in the comment section below.


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