Pew Report on Writing by Teens

"Even though teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world, they do not believe that communication over the internet or text messaging is writing."
April 2008 PewReport on Writing, Technology and Teens.

Here are the Summary Findings at a Glance:

-Even though teens are heavily embedded in a tech-rich world, they do not believe that communication over the internet or text messaging is writing.
-The impact of technology on writing is hardly a frivolous issue because most believe that good writing is important to teens’ future success.
-Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.
-Writing for school is a nearly every-day activity for teens, but most assignments are short.
-Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be improved.
-Non-school writing, while less common than school writing, is still widespread among teens.
-Multi-channel teens and gadget owners do not write any more -- or less -- than their counterparts, but bloggers are more prolific.
-Teens more often write by hand for both out-of-school writing and school work.
-As tech-savvy as they are, teens do not believe that writing with computers makes a big difference in the quality of their writing.
-Parents are generally more positive than their teen children about the effect of computers and textbased communication tools on their child’s writing.
-Teens enjoy non-school writing, and to a lesser extent, the writing they do for school.

Source: Lenhart, Amanda; Arafeh, Sousan; Smith, Aaron and Rankin Macgill, Alexandra. Writing, Technology and Teens, Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 24, 2008.