Email Use Is On The Skids Among Teens: Study

With texts, tweets, Facebook Chat, and Skype all available as means of instantaneous communication, it's no surprise that the good ol' email seems to be on its way out -- at least for teens.

According to a report recently released by digital marketing research company comScore, web-based email usage for teens 12 to 17 years old decreased 31 percent between December 2010 and December 2011. Even more surprising is the 34 percent drop in email usage among 18 to 24 year-olds, many of whom grew up right alongside the Internet. To put those numbers in context, consider that comScore's 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review report found that between December 2009 and December 2010, web-based email use by people 12 to 17 years old declined a staggering 59 percent, while usage by 18 to 24 year-olds decreased just 1 percent.

"While the significant decline among teens represents a continuation of a similar trend observed last year, that 18-24 year olds are now moving away from webmail suggests a larger and more permanent shift in email usage may be occurring," explains comScore's new report.

This "shift" describes the move away from computer-based web engagement and towards Internet use on mobile devices, which are quickly becoming the main medium for digital consumption. While web-based email use by consumers ages 18 to 24 has dropped, mobile email use in the same age group climbed 32 percent in the last year.

As might be expected, smartphone and tablet usage has also grown. According to the report, two in five mobile device users now own a smartphone. And an even more startling statistic is how quickly tablets have become a mobile contender. The report explains:

To put the rapid uptake of tablets in perspective, it took seven years to reach nearly 40 million smartphones compared to less than two years to reach nearly 40 million tablets, demonstrating the vast appeal of these devices and consumers' desire for connection.

With smartphones and tablets becoming the norm with digital consumers of any age, many companies are taking advantage of users' constant mobile connection.

"In order to be successful in this new paradigm, digital marketers must understand the key trends shaping the current marketplace and what that means for the future of their businesses," Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Development, notes in the company's press release.

LinkedIn is looking out for its future by planning to invest in the growing mobile arena this year. CEO Jeff Weiner said fifteen percent of its unique member visits come from mobile users, as reported by TechCrunch. Facebook also has plans to launch mobile advertising by the end of March, according to Bloomberg.

Not all groups are abandoning web-based email, however. People between 45 and 54 years old increased the time they spent on web-based email 15 percent, though between December 2009 and 2010 their use had declined 12 percent.

Do you use email more or less than you did before? If less, what's replaced it? Weigh in in the comments below

Comments

[Reality always bites]

06:12 PM on 02/15/2012

E- mail appears to be an essential tool for business use. Teenagers are unlikely to be employed in a business sense and therefore do not need to use e-mails.
Text messages, where grammar is non- existant; are the norm for teenagers.

What is the future for business?

[EmailDoctor]

03:23 PM on 02/15/2012

The data suggest that email is far from dead and will in fact remain the medium of choice for business for quite some time see http://bit.ly/vizSZ9.

The real problem is that most young people do not know how to communicate properly and especially by the written word. So of courser things like twitter and Facebook with their truncated speech appeal.

Yet again this is a case of unwitting letting technology change the landscape for the worse. It time for us in the know to make out voices heard and resist this growing culture of appalling communications.

[Ppenguinator]

06:03 PM on 02/15/2012

"courser"? "It time for us in the know"? Are you sure it's young people who communicate inproperly?

[Flight]

02:47 PM on 02/15/2012

The art of face-to-face communication is dying the same death as writing a letter or note to someone.

[silkphoenix]

02:40 PM on 02/15/2012

With the wildly use of SMS language, very soon, teens will not know what is "grammar" and will have difficulty in spelling. I do text messaging but also do emails as well, which allows me to remember how to spell and use grammar correctly. Just like calculations, how many teens nowadays can do subtract or add without using their smartphone? I think most of them will be at a loss if you ask them to add or subtract, or ask them to spell in the very near future.

[Genders]

04:41 AM on 02/15/2012

Where did they get the data?

[StinkyMoBub]

11:18 AM on 02/15/2012

They mention comScore...

[Genders]

12:51 PM on 02/15/2012

Thanks.

The data is bs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ComScore#Data_collection_and_reporting

[RalphSavage]

04:31 AM on 02/15/2012

Yes, I definitely email less these days. As a PR professional I find it as effective to engage with journalists on twitter and linkedin as most people have applications open all the time. I also get a lot less spam (for now) through twitter.

[speedntktz]

08:10 PM on 02/14/2012

Consider the importance of their communications and why they use the services they use. Email is more formal and professional and far more prevalent in business communications. More formal than that would be a formal letter physically sent between people.

Text fascination among teens can find its roots in days past when cheap cellphones provided to teens offered texting as a cheaper simpler means of communication compared to email.

[addisonsteele]

06:48 PM on 02/14/2012

The average American teenager's attention span is shorter than a fruit fly's, so, to them, e-mails are too long and wordy.

[BertaRN]

06:33 PM on 02/14/2012

A concurrent study reveals the ability to read, write and spell has decreased 31% for teens 12 to 17 years old.

[MichaelAKD]

03:27 PM on 02/14/2012

language, a social artifact subject to environment, e.g place and time. as such it is always in a state of perpetual change. it would be difficult for any one of us to go back say to the 19th c. and understand the language of that time let alone comprehend an english speaker in the era of shakespeare. that is why in large part translations of older literary works often differ greatly depending upon whom is doing the translating and of course when. another way of looking at it is to simply scan through comments made on so many forum threads. the majority of responses are a few haphazardly chosen words or partial sentences lacking sufficient depth and structure to adequately communicate thoughts or positions. granted many are tapping out, hen pecking single characters on mobile devices but not all. we already have a huge divide between the haves and the have nots in terms of wealth in this nation and personally what i see as an even more disturbing trend is the ever widening gap between the haves and the have nots in terms of education. not only a commentary on the state of public education but also on the increasing difficulty for those of lessor means to better themselves via a college education. education used to be the great equalizer in our society but for reasons of accessibility not so much today and i fear even less in the future.

[jhoughton1]

02:19 PM on 02/14/2012

Yeah, because emails involve actually...ugh...writing.

[justwhendoesitend]

01:22 PM on 02/14/2012

Who cares?

[jhoughton1]

02:19 PM on 02/14/2012

You, apparently.