Survey shows U.S. teens all on the net

A new survey has revealed that some 90% of U.S. teens regularly use the Internet in a sign of how deeply the web has been integrated into society just 10 years after it went mainstream.

The report, released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project Thursday, found that nearly nine out of 10 young people, ages 12 through 17, have online access – up from about three-quarters of young people in 2000. About half of the young people with online access said they go on the Internet every day.

Some 75% of wired teens said they use instant messaging, especially for communicating with friends, while they mostly used email for communicating with adults, including parents and teachers.

Older teen girls were among the most intense users of the Internet and cell phones, including text messaging, the survey found.

Of the approximately 3 million teens without Internet access, many are low-income and a disproportionate number are black, leading surveyors to worry about a large class of disadvantaged youth.

The survey, completed in late 2004, included responses from 1,100 young people who were contacted randomly by phone. It has a margin of error of four percentage points. (dpa)