As Marshall McLuhan said, "The Medium is the Message"
In 2002, the PEW Internet and American Life Project released the following data:
Unfortunately, this is old data. Have your students do a survey in their community to gather more recent and more representative data....it could be surprising.
- 13 million teenagers use instant messaging
- One-fifth of these teens claim that instant messaging is the main way they communicate with their peers
- The teens report that a typical instant messaging session "lasts more than half an hour, involves three or more buddies, and often includes friends from outside their community"
Source: Lenhart etal, Teenage Life Online, PEW, 2002