Monday, November 30, 2009

Pew Internet.com Results for Distracted Teen Drivers

1. One in four (26%) of American teens of driving age say they have texted while driving, and half (48%) of all teens ages 12 to 17 say they’ve been a passenger while a driver has texted behind the wheel.

2. These findings form the centerpiece of a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project that looks at teens, mobile phones and distracted driving. The report is based on a telephone survey of 800 teens ages 12-17 and a parent or guardian as well as 9 focus groups with middle and high school students.

3.“Many teens understand the risks of texting behind the wheel,” said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist at the Internet & American Life Project and co-author of the distracted driving report, “but the desire to stay connected is so strong for teens and their parents that safety sometimes takes a backseat to staying in touch with friends and family.”

75% of all American teens ages 12-17 own a cell phone, and 66% use their phones to send or receive text messages.




Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Pew Internet Music Results

Yet, in 2009, there are plenty of fools among us, and the record labels are still hanging on to their broken strings. Granted, consumers aren’t spending as much on music as they used to. Record sales for the music industry continue to decline; the latest reports from Nielsen indicated that total album sales, including albums sold digitally, fell to 428.4 million units, down 8.5% 14% from 500.5 million in 2007.7

Decline in U.S. album sales over time

And while digital album sales actually increased 32% during the same period—to a record 65.8 million units—they were still dwarfed by the 362.6 million physical units sold. Pew Internet Project data echoes these findings; the market for digital music is still in its infancy, and those who do continue to buy music still overwhelmingly choose CDs. According to our 2008 “Internet and Consumer Choice” report, just 13% of music buyers say their most recent music purchase was a digital download.8

Number of PCs with one or more p2p applications

And among that 13% of music consumers who do pay for downloads, there’s no doubt that the eight-year-old iTunes service continues to dominate the market. Yet, as robust as the iTunes catalog may be, there are still surprising holes in the store’s offerings. Popular artists such as AC/DC still do not have licensing deals with Apple, and many older albums from independent artists like Silver Sun have never made it to iTunes’ digital shelves. Music fans in search of these recordings are still more likely to find them on peer-to-peer networks, torrent trackers, and eBay.



Friday, November 13, 2009

Alan Khazei Visits AIC

48-year-old Alan Khazei is described as a social entrepreneur. He's the co-founder of City Year. The founder of "be the change."

A graduate of Harvard and Harvard law. He's married and has two children. He's a newcomer to elective politics, but no stranger to the political process.

He's one of the four democrats running to replace Edward Kennedy in the Senate. The Democratic candidate will be decided in the December 8th primary.

Khazei says he is not a career politician, but has spent his entire life in public service. He differentiates himself from the other candidates saying he was the only one who called for a second stimulus, supported comprehensive education reform and came out strongly against casino gaming in Massachusetts.

• Health care is both a moral issue and an economic issue. Our nation must have a health care system that provides quality, affordable coverage for all.

• Each of us must make responsible decisions for ourselves and for our families, including leading an active lifestyle and following a healthy diet.

• Our health care system should be aimed at making Americans healthier, not just paying for medical procedures when health fails.

• All Americans should have choice in their health coverage: those who like their current health care provider should be able to keep it and those who don't should have other options.

•Americans with health insurance need real protections to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage, dropping coverage or limiting benefits when they need help the most.


Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pew Internet teens and technology

Demographics of Teen Sample

1. The vast majority of teens in the United States, 87% of those aged 12 to 17, now use the internet. That amounts to about 21 million youth who use the internet, up from roughly 17 million when we surveyed this age cohort in late 2000.

2. Not only has the wired share of the teenage population grown, but teens’ use of the internet has intensified.

3. Teenagers now use the internet more often and in a greater variety of ways than they did in 2000. There are now approximately 11 million teens who go online daily, compared to about 7 million in 2000.

4.Still, despite this momentum, 13% of American teenagers — or about 3 million people — still do not use the internet. About half (47%) of teens who say they do not go online have been online before but have since dropped off. Those teens who remain offline are clearly defined by lower levels of income and limited access to technology. They are also disproportionately likely to be African-American. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly all teens in households earning more than $75,000 per year are online, most of them with high-speed connections.



    Monday, November 2, 2009

    Pew Research Center On Generations Online 2009

    Three Observations:

    1. Over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to surveys taken from 2006-2008.

    2. Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people).

    The results of this survey are based on data from a series of telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International primarily between August 2006 and December 2008. For all results based on adult internet users, the margin of error is ±3%. For results based on teen internet users (ages 12-17), conducted in October-November, 2004, and October-November, 2006, the margin of error is ±4%. For results based on teen internet users, conducted in November 2007-February, 2008, the margin of error is ±3%. The margin of error for each generational subgroup shown in the table on page five and discussed throughout the report, however, can be considerably higher than that for the sample of all internet users.



    Generations Online in 2009 Charts

    Check out this SlideShare Presentation: