Despite the stir caused by 15-year-old Matthew Robson's report, I can't help noticing that the half of it I agree with is definitely not groundbreaking – any teenager could tell you that paying for things is unpopular and Facebook has infinite importance over Twitter. After all, the only people that use Twitter are celebrities with nothing else to do and bored old people who think they're connecting with the younger generation. Does anyone care that Miley Cyrus is "eatin' an apple". Really? Oh, and the other half of it does not account for anyone who isn't a 15-year-old boy living in London.
I listen to the radio. I know many teenagers that specifically listen to a late-night chat show as they're going to bed, or a morning show when getting ready for school. As for criticising the advertising on radio, has this boy not heard of the BBC?
If there is one thing I definitely have time for, it is television. Matthew claims that teenagers don't have time for television or reading a newspaper. Maybe that is because he is too busy chatting to his friends on Xbox Live 360. Living in a rural area, Virgin Media is not available and the vast majority of teenagers I know use Sky. Instead of using BBC iPlayer or 4od, teenagers will record programmes on to their Sky+ box and watch later.
As a girl, I know I can account for every single one of my female friends when I say that I have never owned and never will own an Xbox or a PS3. It definitely is a huge market for teenage boys, but the small percentage of girl gamers use only the Wii, and much less often than boys. Matthew wrote about how teenagers are reluctant to pay money for music, yet they will happily pay more than £100 for a gaming console and a further £30 per game.
Music is, of course, an extremely important part of almost all teenagers' lives, and a large majority of teens I know own an iPod. A small amount will play music straight from their phone, but this is usually a replacement for a lost/stolen/broken iPod. Contrary to Matthew's findings that teens from "lower income families" use phones for music, I have found that people who use their phones for music tend to be people from higher-income families, using phones such as the iPhone and the Nokia N95 – both costing more than £200.
The music program most popular with teenagers I know is Spotify. With last.fm (Matthew's choice) it isn't always possible to listen to exactly the song you want; with Spotify, it is. Aside from short advertisements every eight songs or so, there are no interruptions. Although teenagers will use programs such as Spotify regularly, it doesn't mean I won't pay for ANY music. Singles are easily downloaded, but albums prove more difficult, and I tend to buy an album I like per month or so, which are no more than £10. It hardly breaks the bank.
And one final word: teenagers DO read newspapers. Real ones, not just freesheets (you don't get thelondonpaper in East Sussex, funnily enough). Even if it is just the weekend section or the magazine, the majority of teenagers will read an interview or feature in a newspaper regularly. Some even read the news.
Eloise Veljovic, 17 years, 1 month: teenagers are disenchanted with sites such as Twitter
Matthew Robson's report, How teenagers consume media, highlighted the way in which teenagers interact to the mass media and each other. As a teenager who lives in a small town in Kent, I feel some of his comments to be unfair on the general population – as a boy from London he seems to not have realised that most are unable to understand, let alone use, the technology that allows people to talk via an Xbox console. Here are my views on Robson's topics
Radio: I believe that the radio culture is thriving among the younger generations. With popular presenters such as Chris Moyles and Fearne Cotton spilling over into other genres, teenagers are keen to keep up to date with their radio shows, even if only for the 10 minute car journey to school. An example of this is the irritable catchy "Barack Obama" jingle introduced by Moyles at the beginning of the president's term; this tune echoed through schools for weeks, confirming radio's popularity among a mass audience. On a similar note, I feel pirate music is coming to the end of its lifespan. With the introduction of legal and easier to use sites such as Spotify, teenagers are increasingly abandoning the complicated and confusing Limewire.
Television: As a teenage girl who cannot tell Ronaldo from Ronaldinho, I tend not to spend five hours a week watching football. Our generation has become near-on obsessed with soaps ranging from the sickeningly American lives of those in The Hills to the gritty social problems discussed in Skins, girls and boys alike. As with radio, stars of these programmes such as Speidi, the key love relationship in The Hills, and Dev Patel from the first series of Skins have crossed over into other areas of the mass media, holding their audience's attention even when the programme isn't on.
I also disagree with Robson's take on the BBC iPlayer and his correlation to less television viewing time. Most teenagers live with the comfort and reassurance of Sky or Sky+ and will be informed whether their programme is about to begin or when it will next be on. Therefore, the use of services such as 4od or iPlayer are irrelevant and unnecessary.
Newspapers: Robson seems to feel that all teenagers read freesheets. However, he seems to have forgotten that these are only available to those living in towns and cities, leaving the majority of teenagers forced to get their news fix either from the school library, a self bought paper (which, I must agree, are usually tabloids) or may catch the front page story when their parents are reading it. Reading a quality newspaper seems to be a case of nurture and varies with each family's political persuasion and perception of the mass media, rather than be a case of not having the time to do so.
Gaming/internet: Computer gaming has evolved; instead of the shiny new game CDs synonymous with children of the 1990s, computer gaming now means Sims 3 (intensely realistic graphics) and Miniclip (addictive, far-reaching and, most importantly, free gaming) to those of the teenage generation. Gaming consoles such as the Wii have picked up speed and diversified; once designated for the teenage boy's dark bedroom, consoles are now stepping out into the living room with family games and yoga sets being introduced.
The computer has many functions for a teenager: music, gaming, networking and homework and is regarded as a tool used to stay in contact with friends, public affairs and the mass media. Networking is a key component to being a teenager and is surprisingly political: an individual's popularity can be gauged by how many friends and photos they have on any particular site. As media moguls try to jump on Mark Zuckerburg's Facebook bandwagon, teenagers are disenchanted with sites such as Twitter attempting to become the next big thing and remain Facebook-faithful.