END OF EMAIL IN KOREA... NOW IN THE U.S. TOO

As I've written before, I believe technology market trends we have seen in Korea will be seen in other markets, such as Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S. Last year, I posted at AlwaysOn about a study that revealed more than two-thirds of middle, high school and college students in Korea "rarely use or don't use e-mail at all."

Now the Pew Internet & American Life Project has released a study showing U.S. teens are following in a similar trend:

Teens tired of 'boring' email

US teenagers are shunning email in favour of other forms of communication, according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Teens are now more likely to use instant messaging (IM) and SMS to communicate with friends and family. This is despite the number of teenagers using the internet growing by 24 per cent in the past four years, with 87 per cent of those between the ages of 12 and 17 now online.

The main growth is the number of teens playing games on the internet, looking for news, shopping online and researching health information.

Email is described by teenagers as a tool for communicating with 'adults' and 'institutions', such as teachers and schools, and as a way to convey lengthy and detailed information to large groups.

But IM is used for everyday conversations with friends that range from casual chat to more serious and private exchanges. (full article)

Another view of the study from The Mercury News is here. And you can download the report on Teens and Technology here.

Doing a search, Steven Streight recently discussed this topic and my prior post at his Vaspers the Grate blog.