AVG Study Shows Young Kids Learn Tech Skills before Life Skills<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE and AMSTERDAM, 20 January 2010 \u2014 Small children today are more likely to navigate with a mouse, play a computer game and increasingly \u2014 operate a smartphone \u2014 than swim, tie their shoelaces or make their own breakfast. This is according to a new \u2018Digital Diaries\u2019 study from Internet Security company AVG Technologies. AVG Digital Diaries is a series of studies looking at how children’s interaction with technology has changed.<\/p>\n
This second piece of research polled 2,200 mothers with Internet access and with children aged 2\u20135 in Australia and New Zealand, the U.S.A., Canada, the EU5 (U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain) and Japan. The mothers were given a list of tech skills and a list of life skills and asked which ones their very young children had mastered. The key results are as follows:<\/p>\n
More small children can play a computer game than ride a bike. 58 percent of children aged 2\u20135 know how to play a ‘basic’ computer game. In Australia it jumps to 66 percent, just behind the UK and France, while in New Zealand it is 56 percent. Even 44 percent of 2\u20133 year olds have the ability to play a computer game. By comparison, 43 percent of kids 2\u20133 can ride a bike<\/p>\n
More kids aged 2\u20135 can play with a smartphone application (19 percent) than tie his or her shoelaces (9 percent). Almost as many 2\u20133 year olds (17 percent) can play with a smartphone application as 4-5 year olds (21 percent)<\/p>\n
More small children can open a web browser (25 percent) than swim unaided (20 percent)<\/p>\n
There is no tech gender divide between young boys and girls. As many boys (58 percent) as girls (59 percent) can play a computer game or make a mobile phone call (28 percent boys, 29 percent girls)<\/p>\n
Mothers aged 35 and over are slightly better at teaching their kids ‘life skills’. For example 40 percent of toddlers with mothers aged 35-plus can write their own name compared with 35 percent of toddlers with mothers aged 34 or younger<\/p>\n
European children aged 2\u20135 lead their U.S., Australian and New Zealand counterparts in knowing how to make a mobile phone call (44 percent in Italy vs. 25 percent for the U.S.A., 19 percent in Australia and 18 percent in New Zealand), playing a computer game (70 percent U.K. vs. 66 percent Australia, 61 percent U.S.A. and 56 percent New Zealand) and operating a computer mouse (78 percent France vs. 67 percent U.S.)<\/p>\n
Almost three times as many Australian and USA kids (30 percent) can operate at least one smartphone or tablet app than their NZ and Japanese counterparts (12 percent and 11 percent respectively).<\/p>\n
Lloyd Borrett, Security Evangelist for AVG (AU\/NZ) Pty Ltd, says, \u201cPerhaps the most important piece of data to come out of this survey is the fact that 69% of children aged 2\u20135 are using a computer in the first place. It\u2019s exciting and commendable that so many parents are teaching their children such valuable computer skills so early on \u2014 they will need these skills to succeed later in life, and perhaps increasingly, not so later in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology has changed what it means to be a parent raising children today \u2014 these children are growing up in an environment that would be unrecognisable to their parents. The smartphone and the computer are increasingly taking the place of the TV as an education and entertainment tool for children,\u201d says Borrett.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want kids to be computer literate, but how much is too much? If two to five- year-olds can log onto the Internet, locate and play a simple computer game, what will they be able to do when they\u2019re six, seven or eight years old?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tips for Parents to Keep Their Kids Safe Online<\/p>\n
Here are AVG\u2019s top 10 \u201ckeep safes\u201d to help protect children as they begin to explore all the wonders of the Web.<\/p>\n
Keep your computer in the living room where Internet activity can be more closely monitored.<\/p>\n
Keep your children off Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and other adult-oriented social networks and sites. Some networks and sites do exist that were designed with children in mind, but beware of slippery slopes. Participation in a \u2018safe\u2019 network could create an inflated sense of trust that doesn\u2019t serve as kids migrate along with their peers to less child-oriented online communities.<\/p>\n
Keep your children close. Talk with them. Know what is going on in their lives, and look for any signs of new influences or distress. Establish early on a bond of trust that will allow you at least some access when their lives get more complicated and susceptible to external pressures as they grow older.<\/p>\n
Keep parental control software on your machine and update often.<\/p>\n
Keep from getting comfortable. Kids know more than you think. They learn it in computer lab. They learn it on their friend\u2019s computer during play-dates. Never assume your child doesn\u2019t know enough or isn\u2019t capable enough to put themselves in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
Keep a folder of parent-approved sites your child can visit on their own. These may include trusted online gaming sites such as PBSKids.com or educational sites such as Discovery\u2019s HowStuffWorks.com.<\/p>\n
Keep a limit on how much time your kid spends on the computer. Even with maximum safety in place, no child should spend more than an hour or so online.<\/p>\n
Keep informed yourself. Follow Larry Magid on SafeKids.com or CommonSenseMedia.org for reviews of web sites and more.<\/p>\n
Keep an eye on kids especially when a friend is over for a play-date. Many parents allow their kids unfettered access to the Internet, which could in turn lead your own kids down ill-advised paths.<\/p>\n
Keep your own use of the Internet in check as you yourself could put your family at risk by sharing too much about you, your kids, and where you live.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the research shows, parents need to start educating kids about navigating the online world safely at an earlier age than they might otherwise have thought. The world may be no more dangerous now than it was two decades ago, but thanks to the Internet, those dangers are now at your doorstep. Your child may know not to open the door to a stranger, but have you taught your child how to keep a stranger from climbing in through a computer window?\u201d Borrett concludes.<\/p>\n
AVG Digital Diaries<\/p>\n
AVG Digital Diaries is a series of studies looking at children of different age groups. With this year long piece of research, AVG aims to conduct a comprehensive study about children’s technology habits. The first piece of research, entitled ‘Digital Birth’ released in October 2010, found that most babies and toddlers have an online footprint by the time they are six months old.<\/p>\n
Click this link to download the AVG Digital Skills full briefing.<\/p>\n
You can see Lloyd discuss this topic on video at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hMH-jxShH5g, plus you can view parents\u2019 reaction to this study at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0jQ2j-LsomU.<\/p>\n
To download the Digital Skills infographic click this link to Flickr.<\/p>\n
AVG (AU\/NZ) has a comprehensive range of security tips on its web site at http:\/\/www.avg.com.au\/resources\/security-tips\/. For more video tips from AVG (AU\/NZ), see http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/avgaunz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AVG Study Shows Young Kids Learn Tech Skills before Life Skills MELBOURNE and AMSTERDAM, 20 January 2010 \u2014 Small children today are more likely to navigate with a mouse, play a computer game and increasingly \u2014 operate a smartphone \u2014 than swim, tie their shoelaces or make their own breakfast. This is according to a<\/p>\n