Of bubble gummers, brats and booms

N. Nagaraj

Krishnan Thiagarajan

We are talking about youth between the ages of 12 and 17. How many, did you ask? Sixty-five million around the world between 5 and 17. Did you ask, how does it matter? These children have about $60 billion in disposable income (Source: Datamonitor). Is that big enough? Anyway, there has been a lot of concern lately about what children do, the dangers they face on the Net and what parents can do about it. Here are some pointers about how these children feel about the Internet and how their parents feel, based on a recent report by the Pew Research Center.

According to the Pew Research Center, about 17 million youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are online in the US. That is about 73 per cent of the American youth population. Surprisingly, 64 per cent of online teens acknowledge that Internet use is reducing the time they spend with their families. So, as long as these children realise what is happening, it's a good thing for society. What do the parents say, though? More than half of the parents (55 per cent) think that the Internet is good for their children and 6 per cent think it's bad. And again, more than half of the parents think that it is essential for their children to learn to use the Internet, and another 40 per cent believe that it is important.

And what do the teens do most of the time? Earlier, the children used to hang around together at a neighbourhood joint or park or beach, but these days they hang around virtually. Marketers, please take note: Close to three-fourths of online teenagers use instant messaging (IM) to stay in touch and talk to their friends. And a slightly smaller proportion use instant messaging several times a week. However, only a fifth say that IM is the main way they keep in touch with their friends and the telephone is still the preferred way. This generation could well be branded the IM generation as their usage is far greater than the online adult usage (44 per cent).

Quite a few teenagers also used IM to start or break a relationship, and most mimic the way they would behave in the real world. For instance, close to two-thirds of online teenagers don't respond to someone they are mad at, and more than half block messages from someone they did not wish to communicate with. Also, 37 per cent used IM to communicate something that they would not have said in person. A typical IM session lasts more than half-an-hour and involves three or more people, so the sense of community is very strong. Some of them (22 per cent) try to take it much further, and show their attempts at bonding or peer-group support by sharing their password with a friend.

They seem to be fairly strong with their sense of private time. More than half of online teens have more than one e-mail address and screen name and of those, 24 per cent say they have at least one secret address that they use when they do not want their friends to know that they are online. And marketers beware: close to a fourth of the teens said they pretended to be a different person when they were online. And parents, be careful: 15 per cent of online teens and a fourth of older boys have lied about their age to access Web sites. This is most often done to access pornographic sites.

Maybe that's why parents and online teens do not see eye to eye when it comes to Internet usage. And there also seems to be some grey areas in their communication regarding the Internet: 61 per cent of parents said they have rules about Net use, but only 37 per cent of teens said they were subject to strictures. And some sneaking up does happen: 61 per cent of parents say they checked up on what sites their children visited, but only 27 per cent of teens think their usage was tracked. Most importantly, it is time for parents to have a frank chat (oops) with their children, because 40 per cent of parents have had an argument with their children over the place of the Internet.

Apart from the fact that the Net has its obvious benefits as a learning media, and a resource for school, it also seems to help bridge gaps in knowledge in areas that teens find difficult to discuss with other people. Marketers, take note again: More than half of online teens say the Net helps them find out the latest in fashion and music.

So, here's a generation that it is very comfortable with technology, comfortable enough to use it very well, appreciate the advantages, discern the perils, and also proves it by behaving the typical teenage way -- enjoy the benefits, and ignore the dangers, and do the little bit of cheating with naivete and innocence and pray no one will find out.

Please e-mail us at bleditor@thehindu.co.in if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using the computer.