Looking at different generation and how each one uses technology was very interesting. One thing that surprised me was how many in the silent generation actually use the internet and have devices that are connected to the internet as well. I suppose the reason I was so surprised is because my grandparents never wanted anything to do with technology, even when I offered to help them with it. My grandparents happen to have been in the range of people who just didn't want to bother with any type of new technology and preferred to have everything sent on paper or in writing. One trend I saw within the research was that as the generations got younger, the more people preferred sending and receiving text messages over phone calls. The research said that these individuals view text messages the same way they do phone calls, in that they feel that they are one in the same because it's still a conversation they are having with that person.
Something else I found to be interesting was that residents in large cities are more likely to actively participate in local news and most of the time it's retrieved with technology. I guess I had never really thought about it, but it does make sense considering what part of the country you live in. I get all of my news via the internet, but do not actively seek it anywhere else. If I were living in a big city, I would be more likely to seek out the news in other formats. Another interesting tidbit of information is that when it comes to gender, women send/receive more texts per week than men. This information could be useful to many different people including teachers and even marketers. All of the data that I found on different generations was from pewinternet.org. There is so much information about the uses of technology that it's mind boggling. Here is a link to my data spreadsheet on what I found while researching about each generation.
The fact that women tend to send more text messages is very interesting. As an educator, some web resources such as Edmodo allow for teachers to send text messages to students e-mail. The teacher does not actually see the student's phone numbers, but students have the option to receive updates. I always thought this was a useful tool if the teacher wanted to remind the students about projects or tests. This feature may not be as beneficial for male student's if they are less likely to receive or participate in text messaging. I also am curious if males tend to use other forms of technology more, such as video games or tablets. When considering gender and how frequently technology is used, this creates a very unique dynamic especially when analyzing technology use and frequency by generation.
ReplyDeleteMy first thoughts about women texting more than men made me wonder if it might be due to the schedule coordinating needed with kids. Traditionally, the kids' schedules fall to the mom.
ReplyDeleteI think what is crazy is how the data changes so rapidly and how the information we have right now to draw from is so out of date even within a few years. Nicely done.
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