Quadrant+1

=Quadrant I=

This quadrant is called "Technology in the Teen World". The new generation of teenager and young adults will be the first generation of people fully raised in the "information age". This means that teenagers will be influenced if not defined by the technological advances around them. Even now we see people and technology having a commensalism type symbiotic relationship.

However in the midst of the "technological age" out teenagers are not becoming any more informed or smarter. Here are some interesting facts found by the //Davinci Institute

Yet with all this information people are not any more informed, although they claim they do. In a //Pew research poll// only 43% of Americans could name the Secretary of state (which at the time was Condoleezza Rice).
 * More than 3.5 million songs available on iTunes.
 * More than 4 million books available on Amazon alone.
 * More than 60 million blogs available online.
 * More than 4 million entries on Wikipedia.
 * More than 6 million videos on YouTube.

Maybe it is what some call "information overload". Today's teenagers are seemingly addicted to technology but maybe it is not the information they are addicted to rather the security it gives them. It seems not just surfing on the web is considered and enjoyable activity. And the truth is it is not teenagers that are causing the problem, one could even call them victims, it is the way technology has been designed and marketed that is the problem. The media and painted this picture that teens need technology, it has defined teenagers to a certain extent. Because what teenager doesn't text or e-mail on their phone/computer? Right? Why does this images exist? * see another related video on video page.

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However technology has had many benefits on teens as well. In the past decade there has been a phenomenal growth in the use of technology (computer mostly) in U.S. schools, to aid in teaching and learning. In 1994 more than one-third of schools and 3% of classes rooms had access to the internet. In 2008 all elementary and secondary school and over 92% of classrooms have access to the internet. Schools are not only using computers they are using laptops, wireless networks, PDAs, digital cameras, and a variety of software and services. It is also reported that 83% of homes with children have computers and that nearly eight in 10 households with children (78%) have home Internet access. This means that there is a generation of children being raised a generation were almost everyone has some time of electronic in there home. Many believe that this means children and teenagers will have access to global information, access to global learning communities, they might understand things in a global context because of distant learning or virtual classrooms. In essence connecting the world, which in turn might create a globally connected youth culture, and in turn the global teenager.