How ingrained is technology in students’ lives? Nearly all got eMail in the past week, three-quarters got sports or entertainment news online, and about two-thirds said they got information on current events. Roughly 4 in 10 played internet games (mostly guys) or shopped (predominantly women).
A third typically use computers, cell phones, or gaming consoles for six hours or more daily.
Nearly 4 in 10 students say they are connected to 500 or more friends on their social networks, though a majority say they interact little with most of them.
The AP-mtvU poll was conducted Sept. 20-24 by Edison Research of Somerville, N.J. It is based on questionnaires completed by 2,207 randomly chosen undergraduate students at 40 randomly selected four-year schools with at least 1,000 undergraduates. To protect privacy, the schools involved are not being identified, and students were not asked for their names.
The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The sponsorship of the survey by mtvU, an MTV channel oriented to college students, is related to its “Half of Us” program, which it runs with the Jed Foundation, aimed at raising awareness about mental health issues among college students.
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