Teens Not So Cyber-Savvy

In Canada, findings from a new Ipsos Reid study suggest that teens are not as computer savvy as supposed, and even that in some respects they are less comfortable with online technology than adults.

According to results of the Inter@ctive Teens survey, today's teenagers are not online as much as the stereotype would suggest, and the time they do spend on the web is focused on browsing specific sites and activities.

A total of more than 1,200 online interviews were completed among Canadian teenagers aged 12-17, who claim to spend an average of 13 hours a week on the Internet - a figure that hasn't increased since the firm last measured online teen behaviour in 2004. This compares with adults, who are on the web around 19 hours a week.

Factors that might influence this could include parental control, with more than half (54%) of respondents saying that their parents enforce Internet time limits or curfews. The other issue could be that only a minority of teens (37%) say that using the Internet is an important part of their day, compared with 51% of adults.

'What's surprising about our research is the extent to which it challenges conventional assumptions adults make about the technological sophistication of teenagers,' says Steve Mossop, President of Market Research for Ipsos Reid in Western Canada. 'The reality is that they spend far less time online than adults, and their attitudes are surprisingly unsophisticated.'

The idea that teens are very technologically advanced in terms of their comfort level in using the Internet is not supported by research findings. Just over a quarter (28%) of online teens consider themselves to be very skilled or expert, while almost another quarter (24%) admit to not being skilled in navigating the net.

While adults are surfing web sites for a variety of online activities, for teenagers, online socializing is the number one reason to be online. The majority surveyed (88%) have participated in an online social activity (compared with 70% of adults), and 59% visit online social networks daily or a few times per week.

Nearly two-thirds of teens (64%) have downloaded digital music or MP3 files, and nearly one-third (30%) of online teens do this often, from a few times a week to daily (compared with 7% of adults). Teens are also avid online gamers, with more than half playing against people they know or complete strangers, and visiting gaming web sites at least a few times a week or more.

Data from The Ipsos Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report was compared with that from the firm's Canadian Internet Panel of 1,000 interviews, conducted via telephone with Canadian adults.

The company is online at www.ipsos.ca .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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