Surprise: Google Docs editing tool is the most popular messaging app for American teenagers

In the US, laptops are commonly used in middle and high schools. And Google Docs has become a tool used by teachers to help students do their homework and monitor learning plans. However, the students turned this learning support tool into an application to talk privately with their classmates behind their teachers, replacing the pieces of paper.

Young people said that whenever they didn't hold the phone, they used Google Docs to chat and knew that their friends were also online on their computers.

To chat, students use Live-chat, a feature that is not open by default on Google Docs, even though the teacher doesn't even know its existence.

In addition, Google Docs has a feature that allows users to hightlight words or phrases, then comment on the pop-up box on the right. Students took advantage of this feature, doubled the folder the teacher shared, and then chat into the comment section. From the outside, everyone will think they're taking notes in the lesson. If someone comes close, they just click the Resolve button to delete the entire conversation.

If the lesson is an uneditable folder, students can overcome it by creating a shared file and chatting in line like writing a paragraph. Each person will create a new page and chat with different fonts so they can still distinguish. Students who only need to delete the doc file, or resolve all comments at the end of the lesson, can remove all traces.

Google Docs is not only used by students to bypass teachers 'eyes, but also to escape the "ban" using parents' social networks. In the evening, when everyone logged in to do homework, the Google Docs chat frame also started operating.

Most Google Docs chat content is quite popular, revolving around what happens at school, plans to hang out, chat and even bully others. Bark - an application that helps parents manage their children's phone use, has warned parents about their children smearing or writing hurtful words to other children in the file. share on Google Doc. However, teenagers say this is a rare occurrence.

In addition to Google Docs, students can use many other learning sharing software to talk, such as an online version of Microsoft Word with features quite similar to Google Docs.

For middle and high school students, Google Docs is the hottest chat app, but when it comes to college, most American teenagers give it up.