When she gets home from school, 14-year-old Jennica Paho of San Jose switches on the computer and goes to MySpace.com. ``It's very exciting to get new pictures, comments and new friend requests'' on the social networking site, she said.

What she doesn't do is check or send e-mail.

New statistics show that, for the first time, teen e-mail use is dropping -- apparently in favor of more "instant'' alternatives.

Since February, teen e-mail use nationwide has been dropping compared with a year earlier. In April, it was down 8 percent -- 11.8 million users compared with 12.8 million users in April 2005, according to comScore Media Metrix. Even though the average time spent online by teens increased 11.6 percent from April 2005, to 22.5 hours a month, time on Web mail declined 9 percent.

By contrast, general e-mail users are increasing, growing 6 percent in April over a year earlier.

Even instant messaging, while popular, is slowing, comScore's surveys show. Total IM users increased only 1 percent, while the number of teen users declined 8 percent -- in part, some experts say, because of the rise of MySpace, which allows users to send comments and messages to each other.

During the same period, MySpace users multiplied from 3 million to 7.8 million.