Kids' Online Activities: Key Findings

The Young Canadians In A Wired World: The Students' View survey results reinforce the fact that Canadian youth are highly engaged participants in the online world. However, the data also presents findings that show there’s a substantial discrepancy between how parents see their children using the Internet and what their children are actually doing online.

Below are some of the key findings on how kids are using the Internet – their favourite activities and their interactive communications habits – and how their views on their use of the Internet differ from those of their parents.

(Data collection and analysis for the student survey were conducted by Environics Research Group for the Media Awareness Network. The margin of error for this sample is +/-1.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. ) . The survey was funded by the Government of Canada.

Canadian youth are extremely active Internet users

Canadian youth are no strangers to the Internet - 99% report that they've used the Internet at some point. Almost 8 in 10 (79%) say they have Internet access at home.
Almost half (48%) say they use the Internet from home at least an hour every day, compared to 79% who say they watch television for an hour or more every day.

Parents say they know where their kids are going online; kids say parents don't know

When asked how much their parents know about the Web sites they visit, almost 4 in 10 young people (38%) say their parents know very little or nothing at all. Fewer than 2 in 10 (16%) say they think their parents know a great deal about the sites they visit.
When parents were asked how much they knew about the sites their children visit, 71% said they knew a great deal or a fair bit. Fewer than 3 in 10 (28%) parents said they knew very little or nothing at all about the Web sites their children visit.
More than one-third (36%) of young people say they erase the history that shows what Web sites they've visited, always (12%) or sometimes (24%). About 2 in 10 of all young people (22%) say they don't know how to do this.

Parents say they often talk to kids about their Internet use; kids say they don't

When young people were asked how often their parents talk to them about what they do online, a large majority (70%) say their parents talk to them very little (38%) or not at all (32%). Just over 2 in 10 (24%) say their parents talk to them a great deal or a fair bit.
When parents were asked how often they talked to their children about what they do online, 78% said they talk a great deal or a fair bit. Just over 2 in 10 (22%) said they speak to their children about their Internet activities very little or not at all.

Kids are ahead of their parents - and on their own - in their explorations of the Internet

A majority of Canadian youth say they have learned about the Internet from friends their own age (54%). Slightly fewer than half (47%) say they've learned by experimenting and exploring on their own.
Smaller numbers of young people say they have learned about the Internet from their parents (27%), their teachers (22%), older brothers and sisters (21%), or a friend they met on the Internet (12%).
One-half of young people (50%) think their parents know less about the Internet than they do. Another 19% say their parents know about as much as they do.
A large percentage of young people are alone when they go online. Half (50%) say they are alone online most of the time. Thirty-three per cent say they are alone some of the time.
Most young people say they are not supervised regularly when they go online. Majorities say their parents never sit with them while they surf (68%), never use filters to block sites they don't want them to go to (65%), or never check to see which sites they've visited (54%). A majority of young people (55%) say their parents do "check in" on them, sometimes or often, when they go online.
A small, but significant number of young people (15%) say they have met, in person, at least one friend they've made on the Internet. When parents were asked if their child had ever met an Internet friend in person, 4% of parents said yes.

Kids say Internet's biggest benefit is socializing and communicating, while parents believe the Internet's biggest benefit is educational

When asked what the biggest benefit of the Internet is, almost 4 in 10 secondary school students (36%) say communicating with people they know and making new friends.
Three in 10 (31%) mention easier access to information and just under 3 in 10 mention factors related to entertainment or enjoyment, such as downloading music, games, entertainment and having fun. Twenty-four per cent mention educational benefits.
When parents were asked what was the biggest benefit related to their child being on the Internet, 66% cited educational factors. Convenience ranked second for parents (20%), followed by entertainment benefits (11%) and social benefits (10%).

Parents think their kids use the Internet for homework; kids say they like to use the Internet for a wide variety of activities

When asked what online activities they like to do most, young people mentioned:
- playing and downloading music (57%)
- e-mail (56%)
- surfing for fun (50%)
- playing and downloading games (48%)
- instant messaging (IM) (40%), and
- chat rooms (39%) and
- homework (38%)
As a homework tool, the Internet was ranked first (44%) among young people as their preferred information source, followed by books from the public library (19%) and books from school (16%).
When parents were asked what they thought their kids use the Internet for, 65% said they thought their kids use the Internet primarily for schoolwork.
Smaller numbers of parents said their kids use the Internet for socializing and entertainment: 29% said their kids play games, 28% said their kids visit chat rooms, and 6% said their kids download music.

Most youth have their own e-mail accounts, but many parents are unaware they do

When asked if they have their own e-mail account, 71% of youth say "Yes". Of those that do, 8 in 10 (81%) say they have a free Web-based e-mail account.
When asked if their child had their own e-mail account, 38% of parents said "Yes".
Among young people with one or more e-mail accounts, 44% say their parents don't know about all their e-mail accounts.
Young people are using e-mail to communicate primarily with friends - almost all (94%) say they e-mail their friends often or sometimes.
A significant number (45%) of young people say they e-mail people they've met only on the Internet, often or sometimes.

Kids use IM (instant messaging) to communicate with real-world and Internet friends

Almost 6 in 10 young people (56%) say they use IM, including 27% who use it every day or almost every day.
Among those who use IM, 88% say they talk to friends through IM sometimes or often. Over half (57%) say they use IM, sometimes or often, to talk to people they've met only on the Internet.
Twenty-eight per cent of parents said they thought their children used instant messaging (IM).

Teens prefer unmonitored chat rooms

Almost 6 in 10 young Canadians (56%) say they use chat rooms. The most popular chat rooms among secondary school students are unmonitored chat rooms for teens, with 72% saying they visit these types of chat rooms often or sometimes.
Twenty-eight per cent of parents said they thought their children used chat rooms.

Online safety is the main concern at home

According to Canadian youth, the most common home rules regarding Internet use are:
Rules regarding certain sites which should not be visited (61%)
Rules about giving out personal information about themselves or their family (60%)
Rules forbidding in-person meetings with people met on the Internet (54%)
Smaller numbers of young people report having rules on how much time they can spend online (42%), talking to strangers in chat rooms (39%) and telling parents if they find something on the Internet that makes them feel uncomfortable (36%).
When parents were asked last year what their biggest concern was with their child being on the Internet, 51% cited inappropriate material.