Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Is Google making us stupid? Most experts surveyed in a new Pew Internet/Elon University study say the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence.
Groups of bloggers amassed to decry two separate controversies last week: reported rule changes to the board game Scrabble and the declaration that April would be Confederate History Month in Virginia. On YouTube, politics were unusually popular, with three separate congressional videos leading the list. And Twitterers remained fascinated with the iPad.
93% of teens ages 12-17 go online, as do 93% of young adults ages 18-29. One quarter (74%) of all adults ages 18 and older go online.
Blogging among teens and young adults drops to half what it was in 2006. Wireless connectivity is high among those under 30 and social network use continues to rise, but certain features of the social sites are less popular with teens.
Health care reform received its highest level of media coverage last week than at any time since the legislative battle began. That made it the 18th biggest story in any week since PEJ began its real time monitoring of the national media. And most of that coverage focused on the political impact of the law.
Following an interview with one of the leading scientists in the so-called “Climate-gate” controversy, bloggers engaged in a passionate exchange over the merits of climate change science. On Twitter, an airline’s treatment of an overweight celebrity was the top story. And on YouTube, the tragic death of an Olympic luger was a leading driver of traffic.
Introduction This chapter addresses the new roles that cell phones play in the communication patterns of teens. The chapter is broken into four parts that analyze: 1) the role of texting in teens’ lives; 2) the role of cell voice calling in teens’ lives; 3) the way texting and cell voice calling fit into the […]
Overview With a growing number of states moving to legalize medical marijuana, nearly three-quarters of Americans (73%) say they favor their state allowing the sale and use of marijuana for medical purposes if it is prescribed by a doctor, while 23% are opposed. Support for legalizing medical marijuana spans all major political and demographic groups, […]
The travel delays and cancelled flights caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano dominated the conversation among bloggers last week. But an Iranian cleric’s claim that immodest women were to blame for earthquakes generated its fair share of attention. On Twitter, stories about Apple’s iPhone and iPad received the most links.