Forget 'eBook' devices, it's mobile Internet that's all the rage. Researchers who put together this year's ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology go so far as to use the 'R' word:
"Although a majority of respondents to the ECAR student survey don't identify themselves as what we call early adopters or innovators, it appears that a revolution in undergraduates' use of the mobile Internet has already begun. A quarter of the respondents to this year's study told us they are using handheld devices weekly or more often to access the Internet." (from Key Findings)
As usage goes up, the authors warn of institutions being "quickly overwhelmed with demands for technical support and development of new mobile services."
Text Messaging Up, IM Down
Also, it appears that students are using IM a bit less:
"Among the 39 institutions in our longitudinal data set, a 23.2% relative decrease appears in the percentage of respondents who reported using instant messaging weekly or more since 2006, versus a 32.6% relative increase in SNS [i.e. social networking sites] use during the same time frame."
At the same time, text messaging is widely popular:
"...9 out of 10 student respondents (89.8%) were engaged in text messaging, with a median use of daily."
It goes without saying, that trends like these ought to inform our planning for future online virtual library services.
