CHICAGO — Keep computers in a common area so you can monitor what your kids are doing. It’s a long-standing directive for online safety — but one that’s quickly becoming moot as more young people have mobile devices, often with Internet access.
A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that 78 percent of young people, ages 12 to 17, now have cellphones. Nearly half of those are smartphones, a share that’s increasing steadily — and that’s having a big effect on how, and where, many young people are accessing the Web.
The survey, released Wednesday, finds that one in four young people say they are “cell-mostly” Internet users, a percentage that increases to about half when the phone is a smartphone. In comparison, just 15 percent of adults said they access the Internet mostly by cellphone.
“It’s just part of life now,” says Donald Conkey, a high school sophomore in Wilmette, Ill., just north of Chicago, who is among the many teens who have smartphones.
