A Nielsen study recently came out about teens and media usage. Pretty interesting stuff, somewhat contradictory to studies that are already out there. Basically the study dispells many of the myths about Teens. I will highlight the myths and also, further in this post, discuss what mobile is for teens (according to the study).

Teen Media Myths

Myth: Teens use media - 10 screens at a time. Reality: Teens are more likely than adults to use their media one at a time. In a study researchers found that 23% of the media time among observed teens was concurrent media exposure, where two or more media were in simultaneous use. That being said, 77% of the time, teens were consuming media one at a time. The concurrent media usage was actually lower among teens vs. adults (23% to 31%).

Myth: Teens are abandoning TV for new media. Reality: Teens are watching more TV than ever. Teens watch over 100 bours of TV per month. This eclipses the estimates for teen Internet use of 11 hours per month. Additionally, teens are more affected by TV advertisements.

Myth: Teens are driving the growth of online video. Reality: They watch less online video than their elders. Teens in the 12-17 age bracket watch about 3 hours of online video per month, then the 35-44 age group with 3.5 hours/mo, then the 25-34 age group with 4.75 hours/mo, and then the 18-24 age group with 5.5 hours per month. (as of May 2009)

Myth: Teens are the most avid users of the Internet. Reality: Teens browse less than half as much as the typical user. Even though teens of today grew up with the internet in their laps, the study shows that the typical teen spends 11.5 hrs/mo. on the Web and the average person in the US is 29 hrs.

So there are some of the overall media myths about teens. But what about mobile??

Mobile Myths

Myth: The only way to reach teens over their phone is through text. Reality: Teens text at incredible rates but are early adopters of all mobile media. 77% of teens own their own mobile phone. More than 66% say they actually prefer text-messaging to calling. 34% say texting is the reason they got their phone. Ha. 83% of mobile teens use text and 56% use MMS/picture mesaging. While these numbers are staggering, below you will see what teens else teens are doing with their phone.