• by Masha Geller , June 22, 2001

Not that we needed a research house to tell us this, but instant messaging services like AOL Instant Messenger have officially become a staple of teen-age life.

According to a study released earlier this week by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 13 million American middle and high school students, nearly 60% of the population between 12 and 17 years of age, just can't live without IM.

The study found that most of the 754 teen-agers surveyed said the Internet was helpful with friendships and class work, and 87% of their parents agreed that the Internet helped their children in school.

The report found that nearly three-quarters of teen-agers with access to the Internet have used instant messaging programs to hold conversations online, compared with 44% of adults who go online.

While most teens surveyed said they sent innocuous messages to friends, more than a third confessed to using the messages to say something they would not have said in person.

Of these, almost a fifth said they had used messaging programs to ask someone out on a date, and more than one in 10 reported they had used them to break up.

Notably, more than half of the online teen-agers told researchers the Internet took away from time that young people spend with their families. And 40% of parents reported having arguments about the Internet with their children.

To monitor their children's use of the Internet, 70% of parents surveyed said they had their Web-linked computer in an open family area, such as a den, and 41% said they had installed some form of screening device to restrict their children's access to some online content.

The full report is available from http://www.pewinternet.org.

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