Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Latest installment in the UK Children Go Online project is now available
Magdalena Bober, chief Research officer for the UK Children Go Online project has just announced that the fourth report from the project has been published: Internet Literacy Among Children and Young People.
The report, according to a press release,
compares more skilled internet users with beginners. Professor Sonia Livingstone and co-author Dr Magdalena Bober found that:Children and young people who are more skilled at using the internet take up more online opportunities than beginners – such as using the internet for learning, communicating with friends or seeking advice. It is the skilled youngsters, more than the beginners, who are likely to encounter online risks – such as bullying, online porn or privacy risks. Increasing online opportunities also increases the risks. Those who manage to avoid the risks seem to do so by making only a narrow and unadventurous use of the internet.
andBeginners lack searching and critical skills and so are more distrustful
content than skilled users.However, skilled users don’t show blind trust. Rather, they are better at
and more able to find reliable websites, for example by checking information across several sites.Overall, only one in three 9-19 year old internet users have been taught
decide if the information they find online is reliable and can be trusted.
