“Not without my cell*” – Text messaging 24/7 is a must for Luisa (17). With more than 9125 text messages a year, she feels that her mobile phone is the most important medium she owns.
The case study below is based on the questions asked in the JIM Study published annual by the Pedagogical Media Research Centre Southwest (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest) in Germany. The study analyses the use of media of 12 to 19 year olds in Germany. The study has been conducted for the past 13 years to document the trends and developments in media usage. The JIM study is designed as long term research project and its goal is to analyze the general shift of media usage among young adults. For details on the Jim Study, please visit the website at http://www.mpfs.de/index.php?id=181
A case study of Luisa’s media consumption
Luisa is 17 years old and is a dual national of Germany and Greece. She attends a private secondary school (Gymnasium) and lives with her mom, one brother (22) and sister (24) in Bonn. Her father died several years ago. Her mother teaches German as a foreign language and is originally from Greece.
Luisa’s typical day starts out by checking if she has received any text messages while she was asleep. She always keeps her phone right next to her bed while sleeping. Her night companion is never asleep and can store every message for her before she dashes to school.
Statistics on Luisa’s Annual Mobile Use
Text messages: 25 per day (9125 per year)
phone calls received: 6 per day (2190 per year)
phone calls made: 5-6 per day (2007 per year)
Her mobile phone costs €250 and is three years old. It has a camera, Bluetooth, mp3-player, GPS and can access the Internet. The cell phone contract does not include Internet access, therefore, she does not go online to access her emails or download/upload pictures or other documents. She uses her mobile phone mainly to communicate with her friends and family.
phone calls received: 6 per day (2190 per year)
phone calls made: 5-6 per day (2007 per year)
Her mobile phone costs €250 and is three years old. It has a camera, Bluetooth, mp3-player, GPS and can access the Internet. The cell phone contract does not include Internet access, therefore, she does not go online to access her emails or download/upload pictures or other documents. She uses her mobile phone mainly to communicate with her friends and family.
Free time activites
In her free time Luisa enjoys meeting her friends several times a week and goes shopping as well. She spends several hours in the library and enjoys singing in the school choir as well as working out in the gym. In addition, she also spends time not doing anything in particular. Her cell is her constant companion and she is online several times a day. She listens to music on her MP3 player daily and also to the radio. Reading is part of her daily routine because of her homework, but she finds time to read a book for her own pleasure at least once a week. She hardly ever watches DVDs anymore and seldom reads the newspaper or a magazine. At least once a week she peaks at a glamor magazine. She doesn’t access online magazines or newspapers and does not go to the movies on a regular basis. Listening to music is very important to her and using her mobile phone as well. The Internet and TV are important to her, but reading books, newspapers or playing video games are rather unimportant.
Online Activities (online communities, platforms for school or free time)
She accesses the Internet daily for school and for her private use. She visits Facebook and goes to Twitter. She tweets daily and follows others. Emails are only sent every other day and are school related. She does not play games online and has not used skype or any other online telephone provider. She goggles daily and has a look at Wikipedia every other day and reads feeds from news groups on fairly regular basis as well as some weblogs. She hardly every uploads any pictures on the Internet and has never been an active Web 2.0 author on any forums, blogs, wikis or other collaborative tools. She does not own or any on or offline computer games or owns any computer game playing devices.
TV consumption
Her favorite TV networks are Pro 7 and SuperRTL. She loves to watch Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Big Band Theory, Law& Order and several children’s sitcoms from Nicelodeon (Wizards of Waverly Place or Victorious). She also enjoys watching episodes online. However, she still prefers watching television on a regular TV.
Cyberbullying
Luisa has never been bullied online nor has she heard of any person from friends that have suffered from any type of online harassment. She has never been approached by any religious or political groups and has also visited a right-wing extremist website.
Conclusion
Based on the published JIM Study Luisa is a typical German teenager. She has never heard the term digital native or digital immigrant, but could identify the different characteristics without any detailed explanations. She clearly represents the new generation of young adults that have been brought up with digital technology and feels comfortable using several media at the same time.
From the interview, I can see that the traditional media like magazines and newspapers are no longer vital to gain information quickly, but goggling and using Wikipedia have become indispensable. Finally, her mobile phone and social media, in particular using Facebook is an integral part of her daily routine and is as important as eating, sleeping and socializing.
Her number one device is her mobile phone. She can’t leave home without it.
*cellular phone or cell (US) and mobile phone (UK)
