GIRLS OUTPACE BOYS IN USE OF TECHNOLOGY: They mature more quickly, are said to be more responsible and do better at school. Now media-savvy girls are putting another one over the boys by leading the digital communications revolution. After one of the most comprehensive studies of the effect on children of the explosion in media choices of the past 15 years, the regulator Ofcom said girls aged 12 to 15 are more likely than boys to have a mobile phone, use the internet, listen to the radio and read newspapers or magazines. Only when it comes to playing computer and console games do boys overtake girls. The study, focusing on children aged between eight and 15, also showed the extent to which mobile phones and the internet are taken for granted by primary school children. Their 11th birthday appears to be the tipping point, with eight of out of 10 children having their own handset by that age. The phenomenon of children setting the timer on the video recorder while their parents struggle with the instruction manual also appears to have translated to the internet age: two-thirds of those parents also admitted that their children knew more about the medium than they did. (The Guardian, UK)
Should this make a cheer or cringe? 80% of 11 year olds have their own cell-phones? Will this generation define the medium or will the medium define them? And how will we work to redeem technology in a way that retains relationships?
1 comment:
That's pretty horrible.
Post a Comment