[CC] Media Awareness Network: YOUNG CANADIANS ON THE NET STUDY COMPLE TED

[Lessard, George]

> 2.YOUNG CANADIANS ON THE NET STUDY COMPLETED
> 
> On October 24, the Media Awareness Network (MNet) released the final
> findings from its "Young Canadians In A Wired World" survey. The research
> project was a nationwide investigation of Internet use among Canadian
> youth, exploring what they do online, how they perceive the Internet and
> what they know about it.
> 
> This final analysis of the students' survey more closely examined areas of
> potential risk to youth online, such as exploring private and adult-only
> chat rooms, meeting Internet acquaintances in person, being exposed to
> sexually-explicit and hateful material, and sharing personal information.
> 
> According to MNet's interpretation of the survey results, Canadian
> children may be putting themselves at risk as they explore the Internet
> with little or no supervision. For example, more than half of older
> children (13 to 17) have entered private or adult-only chat rooms.
> 
> Perhaps of more concern, the survey also shows that Canadian youth don't
> seem to understand the importance of safeguarding their personal
> information; 21% of young Internet users indicated they would give out
> both their name and address in order to win a contest prize.
> 
> The likelihood of children engaging in risky behaviour on the Internet was
> closely tied to parental involvement in and supervision of online
> activities. The majority of youth who visited private and adult-only chat
> rooms, for example, claimed that they are at home but unsupervised when
> using the Internet (85%) and that they have no household rules relating to
> this practice (82%).
> 
> This final report follows a March 2000 survey in which Canadian parents
> were asked about their perceptions of the Internet, and the June 2001
> preliminary analysis of the student survey, both covered in previous
> issues of LibraryNet Monthly.
> 
> For more information:
> http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/webaware/netsurvey/index.htm 
> 
> http://www.reseau-medias.ca/fre/latoile/sondage2001/accueil.htm  [French]

via / thanks to /
> 
> LibraryNet Monthly can also be found on the LibraryNet website at
> http://www.schoolnet.ca/ln-rb/e/lnmonth/index.asp 
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