Young Canadians in a Wired World

BACKGROUNDER - YOUNG CANADIANS IN A WIRED WORLD – Phase II

Young Canadians in a Wired World (YCWW) is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging survey of its kind in Canada. Building on baseline research conducted in 2001, the study looks at the online behaviours, attitudes, and opinions of more than 5,200 children and youth from grades 4 to 11, in French and English schools in every province and territory in the country.

Conducted by ERIN Research for the Media Awareness Network (MNet), and funded by the Government of Canada, YCWW’s Phase II study highlights key changes since 2001 and offers exclusive insights and important direction for society as it strives to understand how young Canadians are using the Internet in their daily lives.

Among Phase II key findings:

Young Canadians are more connected than ever
Kids are active users of the technology
Parental involvement has increased over the past four years
Internet rules make a difference
Young people say their online experiences are generally positive and socially rewarding
Kids use the Internet to extend existing social networks and develop new ones
Mainstream Web sites expose young people to inappropriate content and risky situations
The Internet is their main choice for schoolwork but students want better research skills
For some young people the Net is a vehicle for bullying and sexual harassment
Young people are aware of privacy issues but often give out personal information online
Kids’ favourite online spaces are commercialized environments

These findings provide a snapshot of the kinds of technologies kids are using, the ways in which those technologies shape their social experiences, the challenges young people encounter online and the impact of parental involvement and supervision. The findings also highlight some key changes that have taken place since the baseline research in 2001.

A comprehensive key findings document, the full ERIN report and a supplementary analysis are available on MNet’s Web site at www.media-awareness.ca/english/research/YCWW/PhaseII/

HIGHLIGHTS:

Young Canadians are more connected than ever

Access is almost universal. Ninety-four percent of young people say they go online from home, compared to 79 percent in 2001. Sixty-one percent report having high-speed access.
In total, 37 percent of students, including 20 percent of Grade 4 students, access the Internet through their own personal computer. That number climbs to 51 percent by Grade 11.
Points of access include more than computers. Twenty-three percent of students report having their own cell phone, 44 percent of which have Internet capability. Fifty-six percent of students’ cell phones have text messaging and 17 percent have cameras.

Kids are active users of the technology

Eighty-six percent of students report they have email accounts, compared with 71 percent in 2001. Seventy-two percent of these are free Web-based accounts such as Hotmail.
Online games are the favourite weekday activity for younger students, while 28 percent of Grade 4 students use instant messaging on an average school day – a number that jumps to 43 percent in Grade 5 and by Grade 11 that number is 86 percent.
Only 6 percent of girls choose visiting chat rooms, compared to 62 percent who choose talking to friends on instant messaging.
By Grade 8, three-quarters (77 percent) of young people download and listen to music on their computer and one-third (33 percent) download TV shows and movies from the Internet.
On an average weekday, 14 percent of students in Grade 4 write an online diary or blog.
Students who have their own computer with Internet access report twice as much time online as those who share a connected computer with their family.

Parental involvement has increased over the past four years

Young people report having more house rules for Internet use than in 2001. The most common rule, which relates to meeting online acquaintances in person, is applied in 74 percent of households. Fifty-four percent of families had a rule about this activity in 2001.
Consistent with that, almost double the amount of students now say a parent supervises them when they go online. In 2001, seven percent said they were mostly with a parent or adult when using the Net while in 2005 the number is 13 percent.

Internet rules make a difference

Rules about specific Internet activities make a considerable difference, especially for younger children. In households where there isn’t a rule about “sites you are not supposed to visit”, 43 percent of students in Grades 6 and 7 have visited offensive and age-inappropriate sites. In households where there is a rule 14 percent of students have visited these kinds of sites.
The presence of household rules also correlates with an increase in the amount of time parents spend supervising their kids online. In households with no rules, 74 percent of kids report that an adult is never present when they use the Net; at the other extreme where several rules are in force, just 22 percent report that they are never supervised.

Young people say their online experiences are generally positive and socially rewarding

When kids were asked to relate a memorable Internet experience, the majority of the experiences reported were described as good ones.
Of the 21 percent of students in Grades 7 to 11 who report meeting an Internet friend offline, 72 percent say that it was a good experience.
Young people who spend more time online each day report feeling more confident than their peers in their social abilities – specifically in “making friends” and “telling jokes and making people laugh.”

Kids use the Internet to extend their existing social networks and develop new ones

The largest category of memorable Internet experiences (15 percent) involved connecting with friends and making new friends.
The majority of young people who report having a good experience when meeting an Internet friend, report meeting a friend of a friend, or a friend of a family member (often living nearby).
A growing number of youth report using the Internet with other people rather than alone. In 2001 slightly more than half said their home Internet use was mostly solitary, while in 2005 that number dropped to just one-third.

The Internet is their main choice for schoolwork but students want better research skills

From Grades 6 to 11, three-quarters of kids report doing schoolwork online on a “daily or almost daily” basis.
Sixty-two percent of Grade 4 students prefer the Internet to get their information for school assignments while 38 percent choose the library. Ninety-one percent of Grade 11 students prefer the Internet with only nine percent choosing the library.
Despite their preference for the Net, young people recognize the drawbacks of getting information online. And while the majority (58 percent) say they enjoy using the Internet for their schoolwork, almost half (47 percent) feel it makes not difference to the quality of their work.

Mainstream Web sites expose young people to inappropriate content and risky situations

Almost one-third of the top 50 favourite Web sites listed by kids incorporate material that is violent (28 percent) or highly sexualized (32 percent). Kids in Grade 8 and 9 include these sites in their list of favourites most frequently.
There is a link between kids visiting offensive Web sites and having negative experiences in the real world. Young people who report being bullied and sexually harassed in the past school year also report the most visits to offensive Web sites.

For some young people the Net is a vehicle for bullying and sexual harassment

The Internet offers young people a place where they feel anonymous. In this environment, a majority (59 percent) say they have assumed a different identify. Of those students, 17 percent say they pretended to be someone else so “I can act mean to people and not get into trouble.”
Thirty-four percent of students in Grades 7 to 11 report being bullied while 12 percent report having being sexually harassed.
Among those who report being bullied, 74 percent were bullied at school and 27 percent over the Internet. For those who report sexual harassment the situation is reversed. 47 percent say they were harassed at school while 70 percent were harassed over the Internet.
Of those young people who report being sexually harassed over the Internet, over half (52 percent) say it was someone they knew in the real world.

Young people are aware of privacy issues but often give out personal information online

Young people are concerned about their online privacy. Two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) say they would like to learn “How to protect your privacy on the Net” in school. Half of students say they “sometimes” (44 percent) or “always” (5 percent) read privacy policies on the Web sites they visit.
Ninety percent of the top 50 favourite Web sites listed by students have registration procedures in which visitors are asked to submit personal information. Almost one third of young people say they would give their real name and address to sign up for a free email account (30 percent) or to create an online profile on a site like MSN (27 percent). Nineteen percent would give this information to enter an online contest.
Kids are more likely to divulge personally identifiable information on a commercial site than in an interactive area such as a chat room. Only seven percent of students would reveal their name and address in a chat room or in a profile on a dating site. However, one-third of kids (34 percent) would give their email address in a chat room.

Kids’ favourite online spaces are commercialized environments

Almost all (94 percent) of students’ top 50 sites include marketing material.
Neopets, the number one site for girls in Grades 4 to 7, contains games featuring brand name products and marketing surveys. Candystand, a site for games featuring Lifesaver candy, is the seventh ranked site for boys in Grades 4 to 7.
Over three quarters of kids who play product-centered games think they are “just games” not “mainly advertisements”. Awareness of the commercial nature of these games rises with time, from 18 percent of kids in Grade 4, to 31 percent in Grade 11.