Paul Golding | Teens hooked on Internet - danger or opportunity?

A recent study by the University of Technology, Jamaica, has found that Jamaican teens are as hyperconnected as their counterparts in the United States. The study is a snapshot of the extent to which digital technologies are influencing the lives of teenagers in Jamaica.

Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teens' lives, with 92 per cent either owning or having access, and 90 per cent using this device to connect to the Internet. The average Jamaican teenagers are highly connected online and are accustomed to accessing through devices that are portable and personal. Internet access among students was almost universal, with 95 per cent having access by cell phone, tablet or other devices at least occasionally.

These findings compared favourably with teens in the USA, with a recent Pew Research Center study indicating that 95 per cent of teens reported that they own or have access to these devices. Access to desktop/laptop between the two countries is also comparable, with 75 per cent access in Jamaica compared to 88 per cent in the USA.

In Jamaica, although 75 per cent have desk/laptop access, only 47 per cent use these devices to connect to the Internet. Interestingly, 42 per cent of respondents indicated that they use smart TV to connect to the Internet. This is the first known study that provides some insight into the diffusion of smart TV in Jamaican households, and suggests that its dissemination may be as widespread as computers in homes.

With the majority of smart TVs imported from the USA, this is likely to influence the choice of transmission standards when the Government makes decisions on digital switchover. Consumers may have already decided.

A number of factors have contributed to increased access. The Government has pursued an aggressive Tablets in Schools programme that requires Internet service for the initiative to work. Competition among Internet service providers and the evolution of Digicel from pure mobile to a greater focus on broadband and other services has contributed to greater diffusion of the Internet across Jamaica. Another contributing factor is the declining cost of smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers.

We examined what Jamaican teens were doing online through the lens of digital literacy. Digital literacy is an evolving term that generally refers to an individual's ability to find, evaluate, produce and communicate clear information through writing and other forms of communication on various digital platforms. The literature indicates that digital literacy rests on three pillars: the technical skills to operate the digital device, the critical-thinking skills to understand how these devices affect our behaviour and perceptions, and the ability to create digital content to participate in the digital society actively.

The findings indicate that students were adept in the first of the three pillars of digital literacy. Their technical skills to operate the digital devices, the use of the various platforms and were prolific consumers of communications and entertainment content. The most popular activities downloaded are streaming music, watching TV shows or movies, reading or posting on other persons social network site, posting comments/pictures on their social network, and talking to persons online but never in person. The teens generally had an aversion to playing online games that involved gambling, trolling persons, and were savvy about not posting contact information online.

CREATIVE USAGE

Students had little inclination to be involved in the second pillar of digital literacy - creative uses of digital media. Creative activities such as posting a homemade video or mash-up, posting a video clip they made using music clips, posting a video or audio file of themselves doing something, or post a story or artwork they created themselves.

In our focus group discussion, only one student indicated that he was a YouTuber and posted vlogs (video blogs) for entrepreneurial purposes. The third pillar - civic engagement - was just as discouraging. For example, 65 per cent have never posted comments on a news site, and 44 per cent have never sent links of news stories or information about current events.

Among the students, there was a benign view of the business model of social-media platforms. Most teens' impression of social media was as simple as free digital communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content. There was little appreciation of the fact that the business model is predatory, in which the users are, in fact, the product, the content and the labour. It is crucial that school curricula include digital literacy.

With students having this high level of connectivity, we examined students propensity to disconnect from technology or unplug. The data reflect that 35 per cent of students sleep with their cell phones and another 34 per cent do it sometimes. The majority of the students in the focus groups admitted that they often sleep with their phones and check them as they wake up in the mornings to see the time and to see if they had received any messages or notifications when they were asleep.

They were all concerned with the amount of time they spend online, and a few individuals admitted that going online for them is an addiction. Other students indicated that they had adequate self-control and stated that they could put their phone away for hours, days or even months to spend time with families and friends, watch TV, study or complete assignments and only return when exam periods end or when there is drama with celebrities, both locally and internationally. These comments are consistent with the data.

They also explained that there are two periods on social media: the dry period and the active period. During the dry period, not much happens online and they usually don't go on certain apps during this time. The busy period, on the other hand, is where there is a lot of drama and entertainment happening on social media, and this results in an increase in the number of hours they spend online.

There is, however, a thread in the data that causes concern. Of the 35 per cent of students who sleep with their phones, 61 per cent were females, and 49 per cent were online 10 hours or more, usually on Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. This activity by a significant minority of students needs to be considered within the context of an increasing number of academic studies which found that mental-health problems have been soaring among girls over the past 10 years and, in particular, the last five years, coinciding with the period in which young people's use of social media has exploded.

A recent article published by the Association of Psychological Science claimed that "among those who used electronic devices five or more hours a day, 48 per cent had at least one suicide-related outcome. Thus adolescence using devices five or more hours per day versus one hour were 66 per cent more likely to have at least one suicide-related outcome."

Locally, there is anecdotal evidence of excessive compulsive behaviour associated with online usage, and such data provide some evidence of this. We, however, have no local data from the medical community on the effects of social media on students or adults. What we know is that we really don't know exactly what social media is doing to our children's brains and behaviour.

With social media's obsessive focus on using apathetic algorithm to develop a highly personalised understanding of user behaviours, there is ample potential for abuse. This article is not raised to cause alarm but for further analysis to be done on the silent issues of constant connection. Digital literacy should, therefore, includes knowing when to turn off network technologies.

- Professor Paul Golding is dean of the College of Business and Management, UTech, Jamaica. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and pgolding@utech.edu.jm.