A generation of young people are being “raised online” according to a new study by the UK based Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).
The research found that young people in the UK are spending more than 20 hours a week on sites such as Bebo, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. This is three times higher than previous estimates.
Many young people are now “constantly connected” to the Internet, the report says and they stay up to the early hours leaving their mobile phones on all night in case they receive a text message.
Four out of five 5-15 year olds have access to the Internet at home. Close to half (49%) of children 8-11 year olds, and eight out of ten 12-15 year olds have their own mobile phone. Forty percent of 8-11 year olds and 71 percent of 12-15 year olds say they mostly use the Internet on their own at home.
Fifty-seven percent of children have reported coming into contact with online porn, most of it accidentally in the form of pop-ups and spam. Close to half of all parents with Internet access had some type of blocking in place to prevent their children from viewing certain types of Web sites.
Kay Withers, ippr research fellow and report author, said,” The Internet offers great benefits and opportunities for young people. But with kids spending an ever increasing amount of time online parents need to be reassured about what they are looking at.”
“Government needs to improve media literacy programs for kids and to make sure parents are aware of how they can support young people’s positive online experiences. But more importantly Internet companies need to take more responsibility for the content on their sites and promote acceptable behavior.”
