Young Canadians in a Wired World (2005)

Media Awareness Network.ca
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/research/YCWW/phaseII/key_findings.cfm

Key Findings
Young Canadians in a Wired World – Phase II (YCWW II) is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging study 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 language schools, in every province and territory.

Conducted by ERIN Research for the Media Awareness Network and funded by the Government of Canada, the YCWW II research provides 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 on kids’ behaviour. It also highlights some key changes that have taken place since the baseline research in 2001.

Overall, the story is very positive. The majority of young Canadians have integrated the Net into mainstream activities which strengthen their connections to their real world communities and enrich their social interactions with peers. At the same time, however, offensive content and risky situations on sites young people favour and their own concerns about privacy invasions and authenticating online information raise serious questions about how to provide them with the tools they need to wisely navigate the Net.

Young Canadians are more connected than ever

Access is almost universal. Ninety-four per cent of young people say they go online from home, compared with 79 per cent in 2001. Sixty-one per cent report having high-speed access.


Many students report that they have their own Internet connection. In total, 37 per cent have their own Internet-connected computer. Twenty per cent of Grade 4 students access the Internet through their own personal computer. That number climbs to 51 per cent by Grade 11.


Points of access include more than computers. Twenty-three per cent of students report having their own cell phone, 44 per cent of which have Internet capability. Fifty-six per cent of students’ cell phones have text messaging and 17 per cent have cameras.


Twenty-two per cent of students have their own Webcam. In Grade 11 that number is 31 per cent.
Kids are active users of the technology

Use of email has increased since 2001. Eighty-six per cent of students report that they have email accounts, compared with 71 per cent in 2001. Seventy-two per cent of these are free Web-based accounts such as Hotmail.


Playing games online is the favourite weekday activity for younger students. Eighty-nine per cent of Grade 4 students report playing games online. Games decrease in popularity by grade while instant messaging increases.


Twenty-eight per cent of Grade 4 students use instant messaging on an average school day, a number that jumps to 43 per cent in Grade 5; by Grade 11 that number is 86 per cent.


Chat rooms rank last out of preferred ways to socialize online. When asked what they would do online if given some free time on the Net, only six per cent of girls choose visiting chat rooms, compared with 62 per cent who choose talking to friends on instant messaging.


Young people use the Internet to access traditional media content. By Grade 8, three-quarters (77 per cent) of young people download and listen to music on their computer and one-third (33 per cent) download TV shows and movies from the Internet.


On an average weekday, 14 per cent of students in Grade 4 engage in writing an online diary or Weblog.


Students who have their own computer with Internet access report spending twice as much time online as those who share a Internet-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 they had in 2001. The most common rule, which relates to meeting online acquaintances in person, is applied in 74 per cent of households. Fifty-four per cent of families had a rule about this activity in 2001.


Almost double the number of students now say they are supervised by a parent when they go online. In 2001, seven per cent said they were mostly with a parent or adult when using the Net, while in 2005 the number is 13 per cent.


The number of Internet rules drops with age. Kids in Grades 8 and 9 have approximately one-third fewer rules than younger kids do, precisely at a time when they are most likely to make friends online and visit inappropriate sites. In addition boys have fewer rules than girls do, even though boys are more likely to intentionally seek out inappropriate content. 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 per cent of students in Grades 6 and 7 have visited offensive and age-inappropriate sites. In households where there is a rule, 14 per cent of kids have visited these kinds of sites.


While rules are less effective with older students, they still have an impact. In homes where there is a rule about not visiting certain sites, one-third (33 per cent) of Grade 10 and 11 students visited the sites, while in homes where there is no rule, nearly one-half (49 per cent) of students in Grades 10 and 11 visited them.


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 per cent 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 per cent report that they are never supervised.
Young people tell us 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. The top attributes, chosen to describe what makes an experience good, include: “It made me feel good about myself” and “My parents would approve of this activity.”


Of the 21 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 11 who report meeting an Internet friend offline, 72 per cent say it was a good experience.


Young people who spend more time online each day report feeling more confident than their peers do 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 within their community

When kids were asked to describe a memorable Internet experience, the largest category of experiences (15 per cent) involved connecting with friends and making new friends. (Eighty per cent of those experiences were described as good ones.)


Of the young people who report having a good experience when meeting an Internet friend, the majority 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. This is not necessarily supervised use but “social use” – with friends or siblings. In 2001 slightly more than half said their home Internet use was mostly solitary, while in 2005 that number dropped to one-third.
The Internet is the main choice for schoolwork, but students say they want better authentication skills

From Grades 6 to 11, three-quarters of kids report doing schoolwork online on a “daily or almost daily” basis.


When students are asked how they like to get their information for school assignments, the Net is the clear winner over books from a library. Sixty-two per cent of Grade 4 students prefer the Internet, while 38 per cent choose the library. Ninety-one per cent of Grade 11 students prefer the Internet, with only nine per cent choosing the library.


Despite their preference for the Net, young people recognize the drawbacks of getting information online. When students are asked what Internet-related subjects they would like to learn about in school, the top choice for 68 per cent is “How to tell if information you find on the Net is true or not.”


While the majority (58 per cent) say they enjoy using the Internet for their schoolwork, almost half (47 per cent) feel it makes no difference to the quality of their work.
Mainstream Web sites expose young people to inappropriate content and risky situations

Almost one-third of the 50 favourite Web sites listed by kids incorporate material that is violent (28 perc ent) or highly sexualized (32 per cent). Kids in Grades 8 and 9 include these sites in their list of favourites most frequently.


Two sites that appear in the top four most popular sites with students in Grades 8 to 11 – Newgrounds and eBaumsworld – contain mature content. These sites also appear on the list of favourites for Grade 6 and 7 students.


In Quebec, the top site for girls in Grades 8 to 11 is Doyoulookgood. On this Montreal-based site, users post photos, videos and information about themselves so others can vote on their looks. Members can search the site for people by age, starting as young as 13.


There is a link between 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 per cent) say they have assumed a different identify. Of those students, 17 per cent say they pretended to be someone else so “I can act mean to people and not get into trouble.”


Thirty-four per cent of students in Grades 7 to 11 report being bullied, while 12 per cent report having being sexually harassed.


Among those who report being bullied, 74 per cent were bullied at school and 27 per cent over the Internet. For those who report sexual harassment, the situation is reversed. 47 per cent say they were harassed at school, while 70 per cent were harassed over the Internet.


Of those young people who report being sexually harassed over the Internet, over half (52 per cent) 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 per cent) say they would like to learn “How to protect your privacy on the Net” in school. Half of students say they “sometimes” (44 per cent) or “always” (five per cent) read privacy policies on the Web sites they visit.


Ninety per cent of students’ top 50 Web sites 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 per cent) or to create an online profile on a site like MSN (27 per cent). Nineteen per cent 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 per cent of students would reveal their name and address in a chat room or in a profile on a dating site. However, one-third (34 per cent) of kids would give their email address in a chat room.
Kids’ favourite online spaces are commercialized environments

Almost all (94 per cent) 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 Lifesavers candy, is the seventh ranked site for boys in Grades 4 to 7.

Over three-quarters of kids who play product-centred games think they are “just games,” not “mainly advertisements.” Awareness of the commercial nature of these games rises with age, from 18 per cent of kids in Grade 4, to 31 per cent in Grade 11.


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