Social connection and communication have always been of
fundamental importance to teenagers. What’s new is the
panoply of media options available to this “instantmessenger
(IM) generation” [3], whose mobile phone
ownership is predicted to soon reach 85% by age 18 [2]. As
financial and technological constraints decline, what can we
expect teen communication patterns to look like? Are there
media choice and use patterns specific to this age group,
and how might they differ by gender and change with age?
What are the implications for design?