The Institute for Public Policy Research has just released details of a report it is publishing next month called 'Behind the Screen: the Hidden Life of Youth' by Kay Withers with Ruth Sheldon. It looks at the use of the internet by young kids aged 13 - 18.
What it reports is:
- Internet usage is 3 times higher than previous official reports (20 hours v 6.2 hours per week)
- 80% of 5 – 15 year olds have access to the internet at home
- 49% of 8 to 11 year olds have their own mobile phone
- 80% of 12 to 15 year olds have their own mobile phone
- 40% of 8 to 11 year olds say they mostly use the internet at home
- 71% of 12-15 year olds say they mostly use the internet at home
Most internet usage is unsupervised.
It would appear that a large part of the growth in usage is being driven by social media sites like BeBo, MySpace and Facebook.