Teenagers!

They are always surprising me! I would have though that teenagers were experts with the Internet. I would have thought that they did not had any problems reading, scrolling, and searching. Nielsen's article raises very interesting points , especially in the analysis of why teenagers have poor performance with the Internet. According to Nielsen "teens' poor performance is caused by three factors: insufficient reading skills, less sophisticated research strategies, and a dramatically lower patience level.

I would blame the first two on the education system. Schools have indeed change their teaching procedures because of the Internet. But if teenagers are experimenting problems with reading skills and research strategies, teachers should start enforcing teenagers to develop this abilities. The third reason (patience level) I believe is innate in most of teenagers. It is very difficult to keep their attention and to keep them focus for a long period of time. Psychologists talk about "attention disorders" and "hyperactive teenagers". I believe it has to do with making web sites interesting to them.

Every group in society has to be targeted in different ways. Individuals and groups react differently to stimulus. That is why the marketing industry is changing the whole conception on targeting consumers. The Internet should not be an exception. Teenagers have their own interest and they visit certain web sites to fulfill those interests. Teens also need the Internet for school activities and they should be able to find usable, attractive web sites that will encourage them to use the Internet not only for entertainment but also as a learning tool.