Girls Just Want to Be Plugged In -- to Everything

While Julia and her peers have more access to more content than any group of teens in history, they're also more carefully monitored by their parents. Sixty-eight percent of girls ages 12 to 14 say their parents know how they spend their time online; a third say their parents check their social networking sites; 31% say parents check their e-mail; 58% know the content rating of their video games.

For the most part, Julia follows her mother's house rules: No computer before school. No text-messaging in the car. No TV before 5. Julia even voluntarily deleted her MySpace.com page after her mother showed her a TV news segment about sexual predators who stalk teens online. But even with these restrictions, Julia stays plugged in most of the time.

"My computer is almost always open," she said. "My music is almost always on. My cellphone is almost always on."

Even, her mother pointed out, when Julia's watching television. She might, for example, watch Disney Channel's "That's So Raven" or her favorite "Saturday Night Live" rerun (she first saw Carvey's shtick on her friend's iPod) while IM-ing two or three friends and talking on her cellphone.

As Julia detailed her likes and dislikes, her mother always seemed just around the corner, often drifting by to offer her own two cents. They agreed on very little, and Julia was clearly energized by contradicting her mother. When Anne Schwartz mentioned the sexy pop group the Pussycat Dolls, Julia's face flushed and she became suddenly animated.

"I think they're degrading to women!" she blurted. "They're sluts! They wear the booty shorts and the shirts down to here!"

Her mother was unmoved.

"I just think they have good figures," Schwartz said. "Might as well flaunt it."

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Bored or multi-tasking?

Most kids don't give homework their undivided attention.

Q: When you are doing homework, do you usually prefer to focus on just your homework, or do you like to do other things at the same time?

Ages 12-17

Focus on the homework: 41%

Do other things at the same time: 53%

Doesn't apply to me: 6%

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Asked of those who do other things at the same time while doing homework

Q: Which of the following do you usually like to do while doing your homework? (Multiple answers allowed.)

Ages 12-17

Instant message: 15%

Go on the Internet: 21%

Send or read e-mail: 13%