Internet use among kids is on the rise

By Ria Mastromatteo, Educational Technology Consultant ()

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) recently completed an extensive study of computer use by children ages 2-17, comparing use in 2000 to 2002. CPB found that, "American children regardless of age, income, or ethnicity, greatly increased their use of the Internet from home, school, or library over the last two years." In 2002, 83 percent of American family households (with at least one child aged 2-17) owned a computer, and 78 percent of children lived in a home in which they or a parent used the Internet from home. This is up from 46 percent who had Internet access in 2000.

Traditionally underserved children are using the Internet in greater numbers. Children from low-income families have increased use from 28 percent to 55 percent.

Growth in online access grew 314 percent among African American families and 123 percent for low-income families. These trends are great, but even with these enormous gains, disparity among income levels and race is still present. Despite this astonishing growth rate, significantly more Caucasian children (49 percent) use the Internet at home compared to Hispanic (33 percent) and African American (29 percent) children of all ages. In 2002, 55 percent of low-income families had access to the Internet while 77 percent of high-income families were connected.

The most common uses of the Internet by children of all ages is exploration (general surfing/searching, reading about hobbies, movies and sports); education (general learning, homework and research); multimedia (music and video downloads); and e-mail (which I thought would be much higher on the list).

Students report that their main access to the Internet in school is a computer lab, with the library being second and the classroom third.

Considering that digital devices are increasingly web-enabled, we are looking at a generation of potentially well-connected children. What an amazing challenge for parents and teachers. We will be the models. We will set the direction. What an awesome responsibility! The challenge is mighty, but I see people meeting that challenge every time I go into a school!

For the full text of this research, go to http://cpb.org/ed/resources/connected.