Coming of Age

American Demographics, Nov 1, 2004 by Noah Rubin Brier

However, while the two mediums may compete for finger- and mindshare, they do tend to exist in different realms. Not many computers fit in a pant pocket. "The other factor that's different from IM, that's appealing about the mobile phone, is that it's with you all the time. The default with mobile phones is you're connected. It's a different kind of more pervasive social connectivity," continues Ito. Text is an especially popular medium among young couples who like to stay connected, Ito has found.

For a group prone to bouts of raging hormones, text messages offer an alternative and "safer" way to communicate. "You can be more flirtatious. You can say things in a text dialogue that you wouldn't normally say face to face or in a voice call," says Rob Lawson, co-founder of Enpocket. Text communication can help teens explore different sides of their personalities by experimenting with inter-gender communications, minus the social consequences associated with face-to-face encounters.

While there are positive effects on youth development, there are perceived dangers associated with constant connectivity and the lack of parental monitoring. "Suddenly, there's going to be a big bandwagon of text bullying. There are going to be issues when the mobile Internet comes online, because they're taking communication outside of the home for the first time," Lewis says. By taking this powerful piece of technology out of the home, teens have opened up a whole new social world, even further separated from their nuclear families.

"There's a whole separation between your social life and your family's knowledge of that life. There's so much that goes on that's unmonitored. When we were young, a friend called your home phone and your parents knew who your friends were," says McKinney. "Our groups report, because they never give away their home phone number and their friends are only calling them on their mobile phone, their parents never really know who they're hanging out with." Or where they're hanging out for that matter.

"When caller ID first came out kids hated it. Because then the parent would say, 'You call me when you get there,' and they could see on the caller ID whether they were really over at Johnny's house. Now with cell phones they don't know. You hope kids are where they tell you they are," says Jack Church, vice president of marketing for Teen Arrive Alive. The company has developed software that works with Nextel phones enabled with Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to help parents keep track of their teens. Teen Arrive Alive even allows parents to see roughly how fast their teen is driving in real time. While Church is quick to point out that when you first turn on the phone a message comes up saying "this phone may be tracking you," the program still raises questions about privacy. Although the goal for the majority of parents is undoubtedly to keep their teens safe, does technology like this work against the positive benefits of the freedom associated with young people having a mobile phone?