In early 2001, the Media Awareness Network conducted a nationwide survey of nearly 6000 Canadian students - the first survey of its kind. Young Canadians In A Wired World: The Students' View was an investigation of Internet use among Canadian youth, exploring what they do online, how they perceive the Internet and what they know about it.
Initial results from the survey, released in June 2001, revealed that Canadian youth are highly engaged participants in the online world. However, the data also presents findings that show there is a substantial discrepancy between how parents see their children using the Internet, and what their children are actually doing online.
A second release of data from this survey took place in October 2001. This analysis looked at areas of risk such as children and youth using private and adult-only chat rooms, meeting Internet acquaintances in person, exposure to sexually-explicit and hateful material and sharing personal information. These results also reveal the importance of household rules around Internet use.
MNet has shared the knowledge on young Canadians’ online activities with its library, education, community, industry and government partners, in order to support informed discussion and policy decisions on issues relating to young people’s safe and responsible use of the Internet.
See the right sidebar for detailed information on the Young Canadians In A Wired World: The Students’ View survey – Key Findings from the survey and Profiles by Age Group – analyses of how young people of various ages (9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-17) use the Internet, and engage in risky behaviour online.
(Data collection and analysis for this survey were conducted by Environics Research Group for the Media Awareness Network. The research was funded by the Government of Canada.)
