Youth and the Internet

The Online Life of Teenagers

Teens are increasingly plugged into the online universe. Their online behaviors range from innocuous research and Web surfing to more high-risk activities, such as meeting strangers, creating multiple identities, and keeping secrets from their parents about what they do online.

Getting Online

87 percent of youth, or about 21 million teens, go online.1

• 82 percent of younger teens (12-14)
• 92 percent of older teens (15-17)
• 85 percent of boys
• 88 percent of girls

Internet access by grade level2

• 60 percent of 6th graders
• 82 percent of 7th graders
• 85 percent of 8th graders
• 87 percent of 9th graders
• 90 percent of 10th graders
• 94 percent of 11th graders
• 94 percent of 12th graders

Frequency of use3

• 51 percent of "wired" teens go online at least once daily
• 59 percent of older "wired" teens (15-17) go online once a day or more
• 43 percent of younger "wired" teens (12-14) go online once a day or more

Log-on locations4

• 87 percent of teens go online from home
• 78 percent of teens go online from school
• 74 percent of teens go online from a friend's house
• 54 percent of teens go online from a library
• 9 percent of teens go online from a community or youth center, or place of worship

Internet use in the home5

• 73 percent of teens who go online at home do so in an open family area
• 26 percent of teens who go online at home do so in a private place, such as a bedroom
• These numbers are virtually the same as in 2000, indicating that some parents are unaware or unconcerned about the dangers of unrestricted, secretive Internet activity
• Online parents appear to be more aware of the dangers of private Internet use, as teens with one parent who does not go online are more likely to have private Internet access (40 percent) than those whose parents both go online (25 percent)

Internet protections

• 54 percent of parents use Internet filters (up from 41 percent in December 2000)
• 62 percent of parents of claim to monitor their child's Internet use
• 64 percent claim to set rules for their teen's Internet use
• 65 percent of parents and 64 percent of teens say they think teens do things online they would not want their parents to know about

Cell phones6

• 45 percent of teens have a cell phone
• 57 percent of older teens (15-17) have a cell phone
• 32 percent of younger teens (12-14) have a cell phone
• Of the approximately 11 million teens with a cell phone, 10 percent use it to connect to the Internet
• 7 percent of all teens have a personal digital device, or handheld (such as a Blackberry), and about one-third of them use it to connect to the Internet

High-speed Internet access7

• 51 percent of teens who go online at home have a high speed (broadband) Internet connection
• 47 percent of teens who go online at home have a dial-up connection

Online Activities

Email8

• 89 percent of online teens use email
• 93 percent of online girls use email
• 84 percent of online boys use email
• 46 percent of online teens prefer Instant Messaging (IM) over email and cell phone text messaging for written communication with friends
• 33 percent of online teens prefer email for written communication
• 15 percent prefer text messaging for written communication
• 36 percent have received inappropriate email or chat room comments9
• Only 21 percent have told parents about the inappropriate exchange10

Instant Messaging (IM)11

• 75 percent of online teens and 65 percent of all teens (16 million) use IM
• 48 percent of IM-using teens use it every day
• 29 percent use it weekly
• 22 percent use it less than once per week
• 37 percent of teens who use IM use it for one-half or one hour on a typical day
• 27 percent use it less than one-half hour
• 24 percent use IM one to two hours per day
• 56 percent of IM-using teens (36 percent of all teens) have posted a profile (including name and other identifying information) where others can see it
• 28 percent of teens using IM have posted their phone number
• 20 percent of teens have used IM to ask someone out, and 19 percent have used it to break up with someone

Online Purchases12

• 43 percent of online teens have made purchases through the Internet (31 percent of teens had done so in 2000)
• 52 percent of older teens (15-17) have made an online purchase
• 33 percent of younger teens (12-14) have made an online purchase

Teens and credit cards13

• 11 percent of all teens have their own credit card
• 13 percent of 17-year-olds have a card
• 8 percent of 15 and 16-year-olds have a card
• 6 percent of 13 and 14-year-olds have a card

Multiple Identities14

• 56 percent of online teens have more than one e-mail address or screen name
• 61 percent of boys have more than one e-mail address — almost a quarter have four or more
• Older boys (15 to 17) are the most likely to have more than one address, with two-thirds reporting multiple addresses
• Half of online girls have more than one screen name or e-mail account and nearly one in five girls has more than four identities

Meeting strangers15

• 60 percent of online teens have gotten an e-mail or IM from a total stranger and 63 percent of these say they have responded to such contacts
• 54 percent of boys and 46 percent of girls have sent email or IM to a stranger
• 57 percent of older teens have done this, compared to 41 percent of teens ages 12-14
• One in five teens has arranged to meet an online friend in person16
• Girls are more likely than boys are to arrange a face-to-face meeting (26 percent vs. 14 percent)17

Secrets

According to a Girl Scout survey, girls think they can do a lot online without their parents’ knowledge.18

• 86 percent believe they could chat in a chat room
• 57 percent think they can read their parents’ e-mail
• 54 percent claim the ability to carry on a cyber romance
• 46 percent say they could set up a meeting with someone they met online
• 42 percent believe they could view a porn site

Only 30 percent of teens think their parents know their e-mail password, but 56 percent of parents claim they know their teen’s password. Fourteen percent of teens, however, claim to have an e-mail address their parents do not know about.19

Read the PDF version of this Fact Sheet

More information

View the Pew Internet and American Life report: Teens and Technology *

View the Pew Internet and American Life report: Teenage Life Online *

View the Junior Achievement Poll on Teens and Personal Finance

*(Note: Referrals to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)

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