There are some things we already could assume about the UK’s teenagers. We assume they don’t use their limited computer time visiting such sites as The Economist, this website or even improving their minds at the most educational site in the world, The Moderate Voice.
But a new 8-year-old study finds England’s teens aren’t visiting another kind of site: porn sites. In fact — in an admirable piece of news that should be welcome news for parents across the blog — the study finds UK’s teens are using their computer time on schoolwork or news. The Register reports:
A UK government survey has found that just 12 per cent of 13 to 18-year-olds avail themselves of “adult-only” websites, preferring instead to use the internet to assist in doing homework or for news.
Indeed, the eight-year survey of 6,400 pupils in England – carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills – discovered that 18 per cent of the nation’s youth surfed for news or current affairs, 52 per cent hooked up to IM services and 36 per cent went cybershopping. More than three-quarters used the web for homework-related activities.
The BBC adds:
The study looks at the effect of citizenship lessons – introduced across England in 2002 – on children’s development. It runs until 2009 and is based upon a sample of 237 schools and 50 colleges.
Among the students, television was seen as the most trustworthy form of mass communication, with 48% trusting it completely or a lot. Older students were less convinced than younger ones of the level of honesty in the media.
Newspapers fared worst overall, trusted by just 13%.
HEY! They do share a lot of views with teenagers — and adults — in the United States. But we digress:The study found that citizenship lessons provided “a positive climate with students feeling free to express opinions and to bring up issues for discussion”.
An Electoral Reform Society spokesman said: “Voting and elections should be a compulsory part of the curriculum.“Whether students then go on to take part is entirely up to them but they should be taught about it.”
Yes. Every day young people in the United States learn great lessons about politics, ethics, and fair play simply by reading about such people as U.S. House Majority Tom DeLay. (Actually those stories here may qualify as political porn…)
But, alas, the Register isn’t all that happy with the survey results:”That young people today are failing to avail themselves of readily-available e-smut is a sad state of affairs indeed, and more than adequately explains Britain’s inexorable decline in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s “e-readiness” world league….”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.