Social media usage: 2005-2015

Nearly two-thirds of American adults (65%) use social networking sites, up from 7% when Pew Research Center began systematically tracking social media usage in 2005. Pew Research reports have documented in great detail how the rise of social media has affected such things as work, politics and political deliberation, communications patterns around the globe, as well as the way people get and share information about health, civic life, news consumption, communities, teenage life, parenting, dating and even people’s level of stress. A special analysis of 27 national surveys of Americans across the past decade documents this substantial spread of technology throughout the population, although the overall number of users of social networking sites has leveled off since 2013.1 At the same time, there continues to be growth in social media usage among some groups that were not among the earliest adopters, including older Americans. The figures reported here are for social media usage among all adults, not just among those Americans who are internet users. In many previous Pew Research reports, the share of social media users has been reported as the proportion of internet users who had adopted such sites, rather than the full adult population, which continues to include a relatively small share (currently 15%) who still remain offline. In this report, a broader picture of the American landscape is presented, and so the figures are based on the entire adult population. Continued via lin

The Undertheorized Environment: Sociological Insights for Behavioral Genetics

Dr. Andrew Perrin discussed the ontological claims and social theory which run beneath ideas of genetic causation of behavioral traits. He outlined five criteria for evaluating and conceptualizing the environment within genetic studies. He concluded by emphasizing complexity and describing gene-environment interaction chains.

To watch Dr. Perrin’s presentation, please see the Panel 2 “Google Video posting.”:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8804321603731619003&hl=e

Social Studies with Presence: Technology Use in Kentucky Classrooms

When reviewing literature for this research, it became clear that literature on the subject of technology in social studies classrooms falls into one of two main categories: how to use types of technology and teachers needing more training in technology use. This research centers on the data collected from a survey sent to Kentucky social studies teachers about their technology use in their classrooms. The initial plan for this research was to find any correlations between standardized test scores and technology use in the social studies. For this reason, surveys were intended only for 5th, 8th, and 11th grade teachers of social studies in Kentucky, since those are the years in which social studies is tested by the state. Dr. Lennex and Mr. Perrin intended to follow up on the survey by spending time in local schools. However, there was very little interest expressed by any teacher to have the researchers in the classroom and the survey data was inconclusive with respect to test scores. Because of this, survey data is strictly from 5th, 8th, and 11th grade social studies teachers, although the focus on test scores was dropped from the research after the surveys were completed. Survey results indicated that teachers most often used videos, apps, and websites. The main reasons for using technology are testing, student research, content review, and interactivity. Teacher and student enjoyment for using technology and improved student performance are the main triumphs. The main challenges to technology use are lack of technology in students’ homes, weak school technology infrastructure and/or lack of equipment, and students being off-task when engaging with technology

The Simultaneous Effect of Social Distance and Physical Distance on the Formation of Neighborhood Ties

Prior studies have separately suggested the importance of physical distance or social distance effects for the creation of neighborhood ties. This project adopts a case study approach and simultaneously tests for propinquity and homophily effects on neighborhood ties by employing a full-network sample from a recently-developed New Urbanist neighborhood within a mid-sized southern city. The authors find that physical distance reduces the likelihood of weak or strong ties forming, suggesting the importance of accounting for propinquity when estimating social tie formation. The authors simultaneously find that social distance along wealth reduces the likelihood of weak ties forming. Social distance on life course markers—age, marital status, and the presence of children—reduces the formation of weak ties. Consistent with the systemic model, each additional month of shared residence in the neighborhood increases both weak and strong ties. An important innovation is this study’s ability to directly compare the effects of physical distance and social distance, placing them into equivalent units: a ten percent increase in home value difference is equivalent to a 5.6 percent increase in physical distance

The Degree of a Finite Set of Words

We generalize the notions of the degree and composition from uniquely decipherable codes to arbitrary finite sets of words. We prove that if X = Y?Z is a composition of finite sets of words with Y complete, then d(X) = d(Y) ? d(Z), where d(T) is the degree of T. We also show that a finite set is synchronizing if and only if its degree equals one. This is done by considering, for an arbitrary finite set X of words, the transition monoid of an automaton recognizing X^* with multiplicities. We prove a number of results for such monoids, which generalize corresponding results for unambiguous monoids of relations

Teens, technology and friendships

Summary of Findings This report explores the new contours of friendship in the digital age. It covers the results of a national survey of teens ages 13 to 17; throughout the report, the word “teens” refers to those in that age bracket, unless otherwise specified. The survey was conducted online from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9, 2014, and Feb. 10 through March 16, 2015, and 16 online and in-person focus groups with teens were conducted in April 2014 and November 2014. For today’s teens, friendships can start digitally: 57% of teens have met a new friend online. Social media and online gameplay are the most common digital venues for meeting friends. For American teens, making friends isn’t just confined to the school yard, playing field or neighborhood – many are making new friends online. Fully 57% of teens ages 13 to 17 have made a new friend online, with 29% of teens indicating that they have made more than five new friends in online venues. Most of these friendships stay in the digital space; only 20% of all teens have met an online friend in person. Boys are more likely than girls to make online friends: 61% of boys compared to 52% of girls have done so. Older teens are also more likely than younger teens to make online friends. Some 60% of teens ages 15 to 17 have met a friend online, compared with 51% of 13- to 14- year-olds

Technology in Kentucky Social Studies Classrooms

Technology in Kentucky Social Studies Classrooms by Lesia Lennex and Andrew T. Perrin

Pass the popcorn: "obesogenic" behaviors and stigma in children's movies.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of obesity-related behaviors and attitudes in children's movies. METHODS: A mixed-methods study of the top-grossing G- and PG-rated movies, 2006-2010 (4 per year) was performed. For each 10-min movie segment, the following were assessed: 1) prevalence of key nutrition and physical activity behaviors corresponding to the American Academy of Pediatrics obesity prevention recommendations for families; 2) prevalence of weight stigma; 3) assessment as healthy, unhealthy, or neutral; 3) free-text interpretations of stigma. RESULTS: Agreement between coders was >85% (Cohen's kappa = 0.7), good for binary responses. Segments with food depicted: exaggerated portion size (26%); unhealthy snacks (51%); sugar-sweetened beverages (19%). Screen time was also prevalent (40% of movies showed television; 35% computer; 20% video games). Unhealthy segments outnumbered healthy segments 2:1. Most (70%) of the movies included weight-related stigmatizing content (e.g., "That fat butt! Flabby arms! And this ridiculous belly!"). CONCLUSIONS: These popular children's movies had significant "obesogenic" content, and most contained weight-based stigma. They present a mixed message to children, promoting unhealthy behaviors while stigmatizing the behaviors' possible effects. Further research is needed to determine the effects of such messages on children

Americans' Views on Open Government Data

Government reformers and advocates believe that two contemporary phenomena hold the potential to change how people engage with governments at all levels. The first is data. There is more of it than ever before and there are more effective tools for sharing it. This creates new service-delivery possibilities for government through use of data that government agencies themselves collect and generate. The second is public desire to make government more responsive, transparent and effective in serving citizens -- an impulse driven by tight budgets and declining citizens' trust in government.The upshot has been the appearance of a variety of "open data" and "open government" initiatives throughout the United States that try to use data as a lever to improve government performance and encourage warmer citizens' attitudes toward government.This report is based on the first national survey that seeks to benchmark public sentiment about the government initiatives that use data to cultivate the public square. The survey, conducted by Pew Research Center in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, captures public views at the emergent moment when new technology tools and techniques are being used to disseminate and capitalize on government data and specifically looks at:People's level of awareness of government efforts to share dataWhether these efforts translate into people using data to track government performanceIf people think government data initiatives have made, or have the potential to make, government perform better or improve accountabilityThe more routine kinds of government-citizen online interactions, such as renewing licenses or searching for the hours of public facilities