{"id":13196,"date":"2015-08-20T11:29:58","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T16:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/how-having-smartphones-or-not-shapes-the-way-teens-communicate\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:19:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:19:11","slug":"how-having-smartphones-or-not-shapes-the-way-teens-communicate","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/08\/20\/how-having-smartphones-or-not-shapes-the-way-teens-communicate\/","title":{"rendered":"How having smartphones (or not) shapes the way teens communicate"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may seem as if basic or flip phones are a thing of the past, given that 73% of teens have a smartphone. But that still leaves 15% of teens who only have a basic cellphone and 12% who have none at all, and it makes a difference in the way each group communicates, according to a recent Pew Research Center study<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"Teens<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Texting is an especially popular way for smartphone-using teens to communicate with their closest friends, while teens without a smartphone are more likely than their smartphone-using counterparts to use social media and phone calls as their preferred ways for connecting with their best pals.<\/p>\n\n

Teens who have a close friend were asked to name their most common method of getting in touch with their closest friend. Texting is the number one way<\/a> all<\/em> teens get in touch with their closest friends. Some 58% of teens with smartphones cite texting as the main way they communicate with their closest friend online or by phone, compared with 25% of teens without smartphone access.<\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, non-smartphone-using teens are more likely than those with smartphones to keep in touch with their closest friend via social media. Some 29% of teens without smartphone access cited social media as their most common online or phone method of communicating with a best friend, compared with 17% for smartphone users who did so.<\/p>\n\n

For the 12% of teens who don\u2019t have access to any type of cellphone, social media is by far their most used method for communicating with a close friend\u201437% of this group say they connect with close friends there. (Teens were not asked how <\/em>they access social media, but there are several non-phone based ways to do so, i.e. computer, laptop, game console.)<\/p>\n\n

Talking on the phone is also more common among the non-smartphone group, with 21% of these teens saying they make phone calls to their closest friend as a primary mode of keeping in touch, double the share for smartphone users.<\/p>\n\n

\"Smartphone-Using<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Outside of the different communication channels that teens use to interact, having a smartphone helps teens more frequently stay in contact with their close friends and forge new relationships online.<\/p>\n\n

Smartphone-using teens are more likely to be in daily contact with their closest friend than teens without smartphone access (62% vs. 51%). They are also more likely to have made a friend online: Six-in-ten teens with a smartphone have made at least one friend online, compared with 48% of those who do not use smartphones. There is also a bit more drama associated with smartphone-using teens. They are more likely to say they have argued with a friend about something that first happened online or via text than those who do not have a smartphone (29% vs. 19%).<\/p>\n\n

But having a smartphone, and the constant access to the Web it provides, does not mean that teens are not interacting with their close friends face-to-face. In fact, teen smartphone users are more likely to say they spend time with their closest friend at a number of in-person activities, including at school, at someone\u2019s house or while shopping. Non-smartphone-using teens are more inclined to interact with their best friend at a place of worship, while there is no difference based on extracurricular activities such as sports and clubs, in a neighborhood, at work or online.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may seem as if basic or flip phones are a thing of the past, given that 73% of teens have a smartphone. But that still leaves 15% of teens who only have a basic cellphone and 12% who have none at all, and it makes a difference in the way each group communicates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,308,313,307,290,206,315],"bylines":[940],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[526],"class_list":["post-13196","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-generations-age","category-mobile","category-smartphones","category-social-media","category-teens-tech","category-teens-youth","category-texting","bylines-monica-anderson","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-internet"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":545,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/08\/20\/how-having-smartphones-or-not-shapes-the-way-teens-communicate\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=310&h=317&crop=1","width":310,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=310&h=405&crop=1","width":310,"height":405,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":24345,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/08\/FT_08.20.15_teensSmartphones_chart1.png?w=310&h=452&crop=1","width":310,"height":452,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"How having smartphones (or not) shapes the way teens communicate","description":"It may seem as if basic or flip phones are a thing of the past, given that 73% of teens have a smartphone. 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