Use of chat rooms by Canadian youth, aged 9-17

Chat is a very popular activity across all age ranges, but parents are generally unaware of this:

• 56 per cent (six in ten) of all kids use chat rooms.
  
  
• 67 per cent of secondary school kids use them.
  
  
• But only 12 per cent of parents say their kids use chat rooms.

Most younger kids behave safely in chat rooms - but more than half of the older kids engage in risky behaviours, such as going to private areas of chat rooms or visiting adult chat rooms:

• Some 33 per cent of 9-10-year-olds use chat rooms, and 26 per cent visit private and adult chat areas.
  
  
• 56 per cent of 11-12-year-olds visit chat rooms, and 37 per cent visit private and adult chat areas.
  
  
• 75 per cent of 13-14-year-olds visit chat rooms, and 54 per cent visit private and adult chat areas.
  
  
• 72 per cent of 15-17-year-olds visit chat rooms, and upwards of 60 per cent visit private and adult chat areas.
  
  
• Kids in secondary school are more likely to report going into adult chat rooms.

House rules and adult supervision deter kids from risky behaviour in chat rooms:

• Of the kids that engage in risky chat-room behaviour, only 18 per cent are subject to rules about such activities.
  
  
• Most kids who visit adult and private chat rooms use the Internet from home, without any adult supervision.

Experiences with people on the Internet

Many kids are asked for personal information and in-person meetings by online acquaintances:

• More than four in ten kids (43 per cent) say they have met someone on the Internet who asked for personal information about them, such as their photo, phone number, street address or school.
  
  
• Of the kids who were asked for this kind of information, only 8 per cent told a parent about it.
  
  
• Nearly half (46 per cent) of kids say that someone has made unwanted sexual comments to them on the Internet.
  
  
• 25 per cent of younger kids report that someone they met online asked to meet them in person; and that figure jumps to 43 per cent for 15-17-year-olds.
  
  
• Of the 15 per cent of kids who did meet an Internet friend in person, 6 per cent went with a parent or other adult, and 9 per cent took a friend or went alone.
  
  
• Of the kids who did meet an Internet friend in person, 67 per cent say they have no rules about this kind of activity.
  
  
• Of the kids who met an Internet friend in person, 12 per cent say the experience was a bad one.

Young Canadians in a Wired World: The Students' View 2001 is a nationwide investigation of Internet use among Canadian youth that explores what kids do online, how they perceive the Internet, and what they know about it.

Canada's Children in a Wired World: The Parents' View 2000 is a nationwide survey of more than 1,000 Canadian parents, who were asked about their perceptions of the Internet and their awareness of the benefits and risks it offers their children. Selected findings from the parent survey are compared to data from the student survey.