oa Het techno-subsysteem van de Vlaamse tiener

Flemish teenagers’ techno-subsystem: choices in the use of communication technologies

Nowadays teenagers are confronted with a variety of technologies to accommodate their interpersonal communication. In this article, we focus on the communication technology choices of a representative sample of 1725 Flemish teenagers, aged 12 to 18. The results show text messaging to be the most popular means to communicate with a large variety of communication partners of all ages, embedded in a variety of systems within the ecology of adolescent development. Online communication however mainly accounts for communication with peers. By means of additional quantitative data and a qualitative follow-up study, these results are put into the context of the ownership and everyday usage meanings of these technologies.