Parents monitor their teen’s digital activities in a number of ways, such as checking browser histories or social media profiles, but using technical means like parental controls is less common.
A new Pew Research Center report looks at the challenges parents face in raising their children and how parenting approaches differ across demographic groups.
Thanks to texting and social media, teens today have many more ways to reach out to a crush than in the analog days of using the family telephone and passing notes in the hallways.
From heart emojis on Instagram to saying goodbye to a relationship with a text message, digital technology plays an important role in teen relationships.
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.
Helped by the economic recovery, the share not working or enrolled in school dropped to a historic low of 16% by 2014, a Pew Research Center analysis found.
Texting is the most common and frequent way that teens communicate with all types of friends, but they haven’t abandoned phone calling – especially among their closest friends.