Technology
Please select from one of the subtopics:
Media/entertainment
1999-2006
Topics
Study documents daily 'screen time' of Australian adolescents, 2006
Young people's TV viewing habits linked to junk food consumption, 2006
Some statistics from the Yahoo!/OMD global youth, media and technology survey, 2005
Entertainment media, 2005
Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18-year-olds, Washington, 2005
Youth, music and the media, 1999
Study documents daily 'screen time' of Australian adolescents, 2006
Researchers at the University of South Australia have conducted a study to assess the multimedia activity of 1,039 South Australian young people aged 10–13 years. Participants were required to keep a diary of their multimedia activity over a 24-hour period. Each participant completed 2–4 of these 24-hour diaries, including at least 1 school day and 1 non-school day, during 2002.
The median 'screen time' for participants was 229 minutes per day (264 minutes for males, 196 minutes for females). Screen time was higher on non-school days (260 minutes) than on school days (190 minutes). Screen time was found to increase according to participants' age and decrease according to participants' socioeconomic status. Participants categorised as 'extreme screen users' (those in the top quartile of results) were more likely to be male, have low levels of physical activity, devote over 25% of their screen time to video games, get less sleep and be of lower socioeconomic status than their peers. One in 10 participants had an average daily screen time of 7 hours, while 1 in 10 participants played video games for almost 3 hours per day. On average, participants' screen time made up 27% of their waking hours.
Media viewed as a percentage of total screen time
| Television | 73% | |
| Video games | 19% | |
| Non-game computer use | 6% | |
| Cinema | 2% |
Results of the study were published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, v.30, n.2, 2006, pp.137-42.
Sources:
Olds, T., Ridley, K. & Dollman, J. 2006, Screenieboppers and extreme screenies: The place of screen time in the time budgets of 10–13-year-old Australians, abstract, Public Health Association of Australia [viewed 17/01/2007].
The Australian, 18/4/06, p.3
The West Australian, 15/4/06, p.13.
Young people's TV viewing habits linked to junk food consumption, 2006
In April 2006, Australian Greens leader Senator Bob Brown released a research paper linking the amount of television watched by young Australians with a greater likelihood of their consumption of junk food. The impact of television viewing on children's attitudes to junk food analyses information about young people's television viewing habits, attitudes towards advertising and levels of junk food consumption gathered by Roy Morgan Research during 2005. This data, collected from 3,649 14–17-year-olds, showed that 1 in 5 young people watch more than 4 hours of television a day. Those same young people, who see more than 5 hours of advertisements per week, find ads more interesting, are less likely to prefer eating healthy snacks and are 50% more likely to eat chocolate bars on a regular basis than their peers who watch less TV.
Other findings from the paper:
Commercial television viewing habits of 14–17-year-olds (weekdays)
| 4 or more hours per day | 20% (approx.) |
| 2–4 hours per day | 45% |
| Fewer than 2 hours per day | 30% (approx.) |
| No commercial television | 4% (approx.) |
Attitudes to TV advertisements by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| 'I find TV advertisements interesting' | 38% | 28% |
| 'TV advertising often gives me something to talk about' | 44% | 41% |
| 'Nearly all TV advertising annoys me' | 56% | 64% |
| 'Some TV advertising is devious' | 71% | 75% |
Attitudes to food by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| 'I prefer to eat healthy snacks' | 33% | 53% |
| 'Taste is more important than ingredients' | 63% | 52% |
Consumption of chocolate bars by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| Frequent (at least 1–2 times per week) | 33% | 21% |
| Regular (fortnightly) | 17% | 18% |
| Occasional (less often) | 11% | 24% |
Consumption of other junk foods by hours of commercial TV watched daily by 14–17-year-olds
| More than 4 hours | Fewer than 2 hours | |
| Potato chips | 69% | 58% |
| Other snacks (e.g. Twisties, Cheezels, popcorn) | 33% | 24% |
| Consumed regular cola in last 7 days | 61% | 55% |
Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown: http://www.bobbrown.org.au
Sources:
Denniss, R. 2006, The impact of television viewing on children's attitudes to junk food: Paper prepared by Dr Richard Denniss for Senator Bob Brown, Leader of the Australian Greens, Australian Greens [viewed 17/01/2007].
Canberra Times 24/4/06, p.2.
Some statistics from the Yahoo!/OMD global youth, media and technology survey, 2005
In 2005, internet company Yahoo! and media communications specialist OMD commissioned a study of the use of media and technology by young people around the world. The study included 16 qualitative focus groups and 15 in-home ethnographies (both of which were conducted in 6 countries and involved participants aged from 15–22 years) and an online survey of 5,334 young people aged 13–24 years from 11 countries. The resulting report, Truly, madly deeply engaged: Global youth, media and technology, found that today's generation of youth is motivated by community, self-expression and personalisation, and that these motivations guide their use of media and technology.
Some findings from the study (Australian statistics in bold):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| USA | music 82% | friends 81% | movies 79% | family 61% |
| Mexico | music 84% | movies 79% | friends 76% | family 62% |
| UK | music 85% | friends 82% | movies 74% | v.games 59% |
| France | friends 82% | music 80% | movies 78% | v.games 51% |
| Germany | friends 84% | movies 72% | music 69% | shopping 44% |
| Russia | music 81% | friends 81% | movies 72% | family 52% |
| China | music 71% | friends 64% | v.games 58% | family 56% |
| Hong Kong | music 69% | friends 69% | movies 58% | v.games 54% |
| S. Korea | music 68% | friends 48% | movies 48% | v.games 41% |
| India | music 81% | movies 73% | friends 66% | family 54% |
| Australia | music 85% | friends 83% | movies 78% | v.games 57% |
| PC | Mobile phone | Video game console | MP3 player | PDA (with internet) | |
| USA | 86% | 72% | 61% | 28% | 2% |
| Mexico | 59% | 91% | 58% | 60% | 23% |
| UK | 92% | 97% | 69% | 63% | 12% |
| France | 92% | 91% | 56% | 62% | 7% |
| Germany | 90% | 95% | 51% | 72% | 11% |
| Russia | 83% | 92% | 12% | 61% | 4% |
| China | 80% | 74% | 19% | 83% | 19% |
| Hong Kong | 83% | 89% | 36% | 77% | 12% |
| S. Korea | 80% | 85% | 12% | 64% | 14% |
| India | 79% | 75% | 19% | 46% | 10% |
| Australia | 88% | 92% | 61% | 49% | 9% |
| Instant messaging | Online searching | Blogging | ||
| USA | 68% | 49% | 45% | 17% |
| Mexico | 81% | 73% | 71% | 28% |
| UK | 86% | 63% | 66% | 20% |
| France | 83% | 74% | 67% | 31% |
| Germany | 77% | 42% | 62% | 12% |
| Russia | 78% | 50% | 17% | 15% |
| China | 67% | 59% | 64% | 42% |
| Hong Kong | 69% | 51% | 63% | 36% |
| S. Korea | 73% | 53% | 82% | 62% |
| India | 77% | 59% | 55% | 29% |
| Australia | 85% | 64% | 61% | 18% |
| Music | Music videos | |
| USA | 54% | 10% |
| Mexico | 88% | 42% |
| UK | 71% | 22% |
| Russia | 64% | 22% |
| China | 80% | 27% |
| Hong Kong | 67% | 19% |
| S. Korea | 73% | 16% |
| India | 64% | 25% |
| Australia | 70% | 22% |
| While using the internet | While watching television | |
| USA | 3.7 | 3.0 |
| Mexico | 4.2 | 3.2 |
| UK | 4.1 | 3.1 |
| France | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| Germany | 4.1 | 2.9 |
| China | 3.5 | 2.7 |
| Australia | 4.1 | 3.0 |
| USA | 5.5 |
| Mexico | 8.8 |
| UK | 9.0 |
| France | 8.3 |
| Germany | 7.8 |
| Russia | 7.8 |
| China | 7.1 |
| Hong Kong | 7.1 |
| S. Korea | 8.1 |
| India | 9.6 |
| Australia | 8.5 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| USA | text msg 49% | games 49% | ringtones 38% | photos 29% |
| Mexico | text msg 85% | games 64% | photos 60% | IM 58% |
| UK | text msg 95% | photos 75% | games 68% | picture msg 54% |
| France | text msg 94% | games 66% | photos 57% | picture msg 50% |
| Germany | text msg 94% | games 66% | photos 56% | ringtones 37% |
| Russia | text msg 92% | games 62% | photos 45% | IM 43% |
| China | games 61% | ringtones 58% | photos 45% | IM 37% |
| Hong Kong | text msg 75% | games 62% | photos 58% | ringtones 38% |
| S. Korea | text msg 87% | photos 73% | games 69% | ringtones 62% |
| India | text msg 92% | games 82% | ringtones 73% | IM 58% |
| Australia | text msg 97% | games 74% | photos 59% | ringtones 42% |
Sources:
Yahoo! & OMD 2005, Truly, madly deeply engaged: Global youth, media and technology, Yahoo! [viewed 18/1/2007].
The Age Live Wire supplement, 1/6/06, p.8.
Entertainment media, 2005
New technologies such as mobile phones, MP3 players, broadband internet connections, DVD players and computer games have changed the way teenagers and people in their early 20s consume media.
According to Roy Morgan Research:
- Almost 80% of 14- to 24-year-olds access the internet at least once a month (up from 54% six years ago).
- Proportion tuning in to commercial television on a normal weekday has fallen marginally from 96.2% to 94.8% since early 1999.
- More than a third of 14- to 24-year-olds said they cannot live without a mobile phone (compared to 16% of all consumers).
- 46% said they enjoy chatting online (compared to 14% in general).
- 44% of 14- to 24-year-olds believe computers and technology have given them more control over their lives, compared to 28% of all consumers.
Source: The Australian Financial Review, 25/07/2005, p.46.
Roy Morgan Research: http://www.roymorgan.com.au/
Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 year-olds, Washington, 2005
The study, 'Generation M: Media in the lives of 8–18 year-olds', released March 2005, examined media use among a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 3rd to 12th graders who completed detailed questionnaires, including nearly 700 self-selected participants who also maintained seven-day media diaries.The survey questionnaires and diaries document:
- Which media young people have in their homes
- Which media young people use
- The duration of their media use
- Where and with whom they use media
- Which media genres and activities are preferred
- What young people's home media environment is like
- What rules, if any, govern their media behaviour
- What relationships, if any, exist between both overall media use and exposure to individual media and various demographic variables
- What relationships, if any exist between both overall media use and exposure to individual media and young people's media environment, school grades, contentedness, and other non-media activities.
Source: West Australian, 12/3/2005, p.7.
The Kaiser Family Foundation.
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Youth, music and the media, 1999
Research completed in 1999 as a joint project by the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the Australia Council and the Australian Record Industry Association into the musical activities and preferences of young people, including their access to different media and the effect of new technologies on their music consumption made the following findings:
- Average number of CDs that young Australians buy per year: 6
- Percentage of young people in 1999 who had a CD player in their own room: 49%
... a television set: 38%
- Biggest influences on young people's taste in music:
... friends: 85%
... radio: 72%
... television: 51%
Radio was the most common source of information about new or latest release music. Commercial FM was the favoured radio format of many, although Triple J was also popular.
Young people were most likely to buy their music on CD (an average of 16 CDs a year) and a growing proportion use the Internet to access information on performers.
80% had participated in music activities at some time, while 35% had participated on a regular basis. Playing an instrument was the most frequently mentioned activity.
About half of all survey respondents said the main way they listen to music is on CDs, and a third said radio.
Internet activity in past 6 months was:
- to access sites for bands or performers: 53%
- to access sites of radio stations: 25%
- to distribute music to other people:4%
Radio listening time (average) per week, 1997:
- 10–17-year-olds: 13 hours and 13 minutes
- 18–24-year-olds: 21 hours and 47 minutes
Television viewing (average per week), 1997:
- 13–17-year-olds: 18 hours and 40 minutes
- 16–24-year-olds: 16 hours and 41 minutes
Table 1:
Equipment (National survey of young people aged 12–24 years)
|
Equipment |
In the Home |
In their own room |
|
Radio |
99 |
71 |
|
Television |
99 |
38 |
|
CD player |
94 |
49 |
|
Video recorder |
92 |
16 |
|
Shelf stereo system |
90 |
37 |
|
Walkman*tape or CD |
79 |
54 |
|
Portable stereo system |
70 |
36 |
|
Record turntable |
61 |
7 |
|
Computer with CD-ROM |
54 |
11 |
|
Internet access |
25 |
3 |
|
Pay TV |
22 |
3 |
|
None of these |
0 |
5 |
Source: Survey commissioned by ABA, Australia Council & ARIA
Source: Australian Broadcasting Authority, Head banging or Dancing? Youth and music in Australia, Monograph No. 8, Pt 2, 1999.
Back to topTechnology
Topics
Internet, online social networks
2001-2005
Topics
Results from the 2005 Online Safety for Teens survey
Study into teen use of internet chat rooms, South Australia, 2005
Australian students' computer use: OECD report, 2006
Internet safety, 2004
Why do young people use the internet? (2004)
Pornography and sexual harassment, 2004
Forming friendships online, 2002
Young adults and the Internet, 2002
Results from the 2005 Online Safety for Teens survey
Results from the ninemsn/NetAlert Online Safety for Teens survey released in December 2005 show that online social networking, illegal content downloads and parental supervision of online behaviour are the main issues facing teenagers and their parents in relation to internet use. The survey gathered 3,490 responses from parents and 8,918 responses from children.
Online social networking
- 40% of teenagers said that they were potentially prepared to meet someone in person that they had 'met' online, but only 12% would ask for their parents' permission before doing so.
Illegal content downloads
- 42% of 16- to 18-year-olds reported downloading content from the internet that they did not want their parents to know about.
- 43% of all teenage boys surveyed reported downloading content from the internet that they did not want their parents to know about.
- 63% of children surveyed reported downloading files from the internet without parental permission, while just 49% of parents surveyed suspected that their children did this.
Parental supervision of online behaviour
- While 80% of parents reported setting ground rules for their children's internet usage, only 69% of teenagers agreed that such rules existed for them.
- 50% of parents believed that they always knew which internet sites their children visited.
- 56% of parents believed that they had enough information about online safety.
- Over 50% of parents believed that they had better internet knowledge than their children.
- 71% of parents believed that their children used the internet for research purposes, while 23% of teenagers reported using the internet for this purpose.
- 55% of parents claimed that they checked their children's online behaviour by watching them.
- 84% of parents said that they go online with their children.
- 24% of teenagers reported that their parents are 'never around' while they are using the internet, while 6% of parents reported that they were never around when their children were online.
NetAlert: http://www.netalert.net.au
Source: The Age Live Wire supplement, 1/6/06, p.8.
ninemsn 2005, Parents and teens poles apart regarding online safety, media release, 14 December [viewed 18/01/2007].
Study into teen use of internet chat rooms, South Australia, 2005
A Flinders University study into teenagers' use of internet chat rooms has found that more than half (56%) of those surveyed reported 'no parental interest' in their chat room use despite 62% of respondents expressing a need for 'professional help in dealing with the problems of chat room use'. Only 18% of respondents reported 'parental guidance and support' relating to their use of chat rooms.
The study was based on information gathered during focus group discussions with 114 secondary school students (aged 13 to 17 years).
Other findings from the study:
- 43% of female respondents reported little or no parental interest in their chat room use.
- 76% of male respondents reported little or no parental interest in their chat room use.
- Over one-quarter of respondents reported using the internet daily, considering it to be 'an important part of their lives'.
- 7% of respondents reported that they were 'becoming addicted to the routine of accessing the internet'.
- The average internet use of respondents was 13 hours per week.
Flinders University: http://www.flinders.edu.au
Source: Flinders University media release 15/11/05, Chatrooms: Help needed, [viewed 18/01/2007].
The Adelaide Advertiser, 11/03/06, p.55.
Internet safety, 2004
'A survey, conducted by NetAlert, a federally funded internet safety advisory body, and the internet portal, ninemsn, concludes that pedophiles and pornography cause by far the greatest anxiety among parents whose children regularly use the internet:- Nearly 50% of parents over 55 said they thought the internet was not safe for children, although 90% felt it was a good educational tool.
- 84% of parents thought that primary responsibility for the online safety of their children lay with them, but about 16% said schools and government should take more responsibility for making the internet safer.
- More than 60% said they knew enough about computers to keep their children safe, and
- 81% said they kept the home computer where it was visible, but almost all those polled said parents generally needed more education about the dangers of going online.'
- Women (57%) were more likely to be aware of inappropriate viewing by children than men (49%), and older parents were more aware than younger mothers and fathers.
- Women were also slightly more protective than men, with 90% claiming to have set guidelines for their offspring, (83% of men).
- Slightly more women (85%) spoke to their children about their internet activities (82% of men).
- Half of the mothers polled said they liked to be present when their children surfed the net or logged into chat rooms.
- 68% said they trusted their children to make safe and sensible choices in the sites they visited.
- Only 38% of home computers have child protection software installed.
- Protective software is more often used by families with annual incomes above $100,000.
- 21% said they worried about computer viruses
- 14% were concerned about credit card fraud
- 6% were concerned about loss of privacy
NetAlert web site can be found at: http://www.netalert.net.au/
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Why do young people use the internet? (2004)
A 2004 American survey, conducted by America Online, of 6,700 teens aged 12 to 17 years, found:
- 81% used their computers for email
- 70% for instant messaging
- 70% to play online games
- 58% for homework research
- 55% for listening to and downloading music
In a study of 625 American youth aged 10 to 17 years:
- 71% used the Internet to get news or information
- 68% used their computers to send and receive emails
- 56% to get information about sports, entertainment and hobbies
- 54% to talk in chat rooms
- 17% to get health or medical information
- 17% to shop
Results of the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2001) in which 754 young people aged 12 to 17 and 754 of their parents interviewed, showed:
- 73% of teens were online – of these, 48% said that use of the Internet improved their relationships with friends, and 32% reported that the Internet had helped them make new friends.
- Instant messaging (IM) is very important to teens, with 74% of online teens using IM. One-fifth of teenagers in the study reported using IM as the main means of contacting friends.
Source: 'Teens in cyberspace: Do they encounter friend or foe?' Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, Youth Studies Australia, vol.23, no.3 (September 2004), pp.46-52.
Pornography and sexual harassment, 2004
As part of the Australian Broadcasting Authority's survey (2001) of Internet use in the home, a cyber-panel of Australian families was questioned regarding exposure to offensive material on the Net. A total of 192 of the cyber-panel members were teens aged 11 to 17 years and almost half (47%) of them reported having been exposed to offensive content such as violence, pornography and nudity. The overwhelming majority of offensive content cited by these teens was pornography.
In a 2004 national survey of American youth aged 10 to 17 years who were regular Internet users:
- 25% has been exposed to unwanted sexual pictures in the previous year.
- Of these the majority reported no negative effect of their exposure, but
- 25% reported distress at being exposed.
- More boys than girls reported exposure and older youths reported substantially more exposure than did younger children.
Source: 'Teens in cyberspace: Do they encounter friend or foe?' Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, Youth Studies Australia, vol.23, no.3 (September 2004), pp.46-52.
Forming friendships online, 2002
In a large US survey, in 2002, of 1,501 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years who regularly used the Internet:
- 55% had used chat rooms, IM and other forms of online communication to communicate with people they did not know face-to-face.
- 25% reported forming a casual online friendship.
- 14% reported forming a close online friendship.
- 7% had a face-to-face meeting.
- 2% had established an online romantic relationship.
In all, 17% reported establishing some form of close online relationship.
The majority of participants stated that mutual interests and activities were what initially drew them together.
Source: 'Teens in cyberspace: Do they encounter friend or foe?' Michele Fleming and Debra Rickwood, Youth Studies Australia, vol.23, no.3 (September 2004), pp.46-52.
Young adults and the Internet, 2002
Of all adult age groups, young people 18–24 were the most likely to have used the Internet during 2002. 84% of people in this age-group visited the Internet, most likely at sites other than home or work.
Access from home: 57%
… at work: 28%
… from other sites: 69%
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Year Book of Australia 2004, cat.no. 1301.0, ABS, Canberra, Use of information technology page [viewed 18/01/2007].
Back to topUse of computers in upper secondary schools, 2001
An OECD report, Completing the Foundation for Lifelong Learning: An OECD survey of Upper Secondary Schools, reviewed the structural barriers preventing full and effective use of ICT in upper secondary schools. The report drew on data from 14 OECD countries – Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Some key findings were that:
- Fewer than 20% of students attend schools where there are enough workstations for every teacher to have one.
- In 11 out of 14 countries surveyed, a shortage of computers for students was cited as one of the biggest obstacles to greater ICT use.
- Educational use of computers is sporadic across all countries, with information gathering from the Internet being the most common way in which computers are used.
- On average across the countries surveyed, the principals of only about 20% of students reported that computers are used 'a lot' as a source of additional instruction or to allow students to work at their own pace.
- A minority of teachers across countries regularly use standard computer applications, according to their principals, and only in Denmark, Sweden and Korea do the proportions who do so reach 60%.
The most common reasons cited for this under-use are: difficulties in integrating ICT into classroom instruction; problems in scheduling enough computer time for classes; and teachers' lack of ICT skills and knowledge. In addition, principals report that recruiting ICT teachers is by far the most difficult recruitment problem that they face across all school subjects.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD media release: OECD identifies "disappointing" use of ICT in upper secondary schools.
Back to topAustralian students' computer use: OECD report, 2006
A report released in January 2006 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that Australian students are 'among the world's leading users of computers in education both at school and in the home'.
The report Are students ready for a technology-rich world? is part of PISA's 2003 analysis of the educational performance of 15-year-olds. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) led the international consortium that conducted the assessments.
Some findings from the report relating to Australian students:
- 94% of Australian students reported having access to a home computer for school work (OECD average 79%).
- 100% of Australian students reported having access to a computer at school.
- 70% of Australian students reported frequent use of a computer for word processing (OECD average 48%).
- 10% of Australian students reported frequent use of educational software (OECD average 13%).
- 74% of Australian students reported frequent use of the Internet 'to look up information about people, things or ideas' (OECD average 55%)
- 90% of Australian students reported being confident internet users.
Australian Council for Educational Research: http://www.acer.edu.au
OECD Programme for International Student Assessment: http://www.pisa.oecd.org
Source: Australian Council for Educational Research media release Australian students among the highest computer users at school and in the home: OECD report, 25/01/06 [viewed 18/01/2007].
OECD media release Regular computer users perform better in key school subjects, OECD study shows, 24/01/06 [viewed 18/01/2007].
Text messaging, 2005
In Australia, it is estimated that 250 million text messages are sent each month, with eight million messages sent on Valentines Day 2002 alone.
Some results from a study at Macquarie University into text messaging habits of approximately 100 young adults, aged between 18 and 35 (three-quarters of whom were first-year university students – all were in a dating relationship, or were engaged or married):
- Most budding romances start off with lots of SMS action
- Text messaging is ‘less confrontational and more distant’
- 10.9% of people studied admitted to sending their partners flirtatious and sexual messages
- 15.8% also admitted to breaking up via SMS
- Women were more likely to send romantic messages to their partners
- Young men were more comfortable sending practical messages than romantic ones
- Text messaging was often used to enhance intimacy
- However, it could equally be used to increase distance, avoid face-to-face communication and avoid confrontation
Sources: The Daily Telegraph, 14/10/2005, p.9, Macquarie University News, October 2005, Love Textually by Greg Welsh [viewed 18/01/2007].
Adolescent mobile phone use, 2004
A 2004 Australian Psychological Society study on adolescent mobile phone use found that 82% of adolescents surveyed rated being able to contact their parents at any time as one of the most important reasons for having a mobile phone. However, 37% of adolescents reported instances when they needed to contact their parents but were unable to do so because they had no credit on their mobile phone.
The study of 258 adolescents in Years 7 to 12, and 166 parents of adolescents, also found that 41% of young people surveyed rated not being able to contact someone in an emergency as their primary concern if they no longer had a mobile phone.
While 51% of parents surveyed allowed their adolescent to have a mobile phone for ‘safety reasons and in order to facilitate contact’, and 68% of parents surveyed believed that they knew where their child was at any time because they had a mobile phone, 77% of parents reported times when they needed to contact their child urgently but their child did not answer their phone.
Other findings from the study:
Adolescents with a mobile phone
- 83% currently had a mobile phone; 17% did not.
- 66% had a pre-paid phone system.
- 60% wanted to upgrade to a better model of phone.
- 63% said that over half of their mobile phone calls were to friends, while 19% said that over three-quarters of their calls were to friends.
- 27% say that having a mobile phone ‘has improved their friendships’.
- 98% said that their school had rules about mobile phone use; 46% reported ‘always sticking to these rules’.
- 58% reported having no parental rules about their mobile phone use.
- 27% reported using their mobile phone ‘to organise activities that their parents were not aware of’.
- 10% of adolescents reported receiving threatening mobile phone messages.
- 29% reported receiving mobile phone messages from someone with whom they did not want to be in contact.
- 16% reported feeling ‘unable to control their mobile phone use’.
- 5% of parents surveyed wished that their adolescent did not have a mobile phone.
- 16% of adolescents and 8% of parents reported conflict over the adolescent’s mobile phone bills.
Age when first given a mobile phone
| Younger then 13 years | 16% |
| 13–14 years | 57% |
| 15–18 years | 27% |
Estimated daily mobile phone use (phone calls)
| No calls most days | 39% |
| 1–2 calls per day | 40% |
| 3–5 calls per day | 18% |
| 5+ calls per day | 3% |
Estimated daily mobile phone use (SMS messages)
| No messages most days | 33% |
| 1–2 messages per day | 27% |
| 3–5 messages per day | 26% |
| 6–10 messages per day | 8% |
| 10+ messages per day | 6% |
Arrangement for payment of mobile phone bills
| Parents pay all costs | 51% |
| Adolescent pays all costs | 26% |
| Adolescent shares costs with parents | 18% |
| Other arrangements | 5% |
Adolescents without mobile phones
- Of those without a mobile phone, 47% felt ‘left out of social interactions’ and 33% ‘sometimes felt pressured to get a mobile phone’. However, 91% of adolescents with a mobile phone said that they respected those who decided that they ‘don’t need a mobile phone’.
- 72% of adolescents without a mobile phone reported wanting to get one.
- The main reason adolescents gave for not having a mobile phone was that their parents would not let them (46%).
Sources:
Australian Psychological Society 2004, APS study finds parents are relying on mobile phones to keep kids safe, media release 7 November, Australian Psychological Society [viewed 18/01/2007].
Australian Psychological Society 2004, Psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use among adolescents, Australian Psychological Society [viewed 18/01/2007].
Sydney Morning Herald 22/5/06, p.9.
Mobile phone use, NSW, 2004
In July 2004, a major new study of youth phone use reveals the average age for under-18s to begin using mobiles is 13 and many are spending more than half their income on bills.
Youth Action & Policy Association (YAPA) polled 550 young people, aged under 18, in NSW about their mobile-phone use. The survey found:
- 20% admitted phone debt had caused them major problems
- fewer than 10% knew where to go for help with debt
- 40% had received monthly bills for more than $200
- 4 % had received bills for more than $1500
- more than one in 10 spent more than 50% of their income on phone bills.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald Phone bills putting under-18s in serious debt [viewed 18/01/2007].
Back to topMobile phone use, NSW, 2004
In July 2004, a major new study of youth phone use reveals the average age for under-18s to begin using mobiles is 13 and many are spending more than half their income on bills.
Youth Action & Policy Association (YAPA) polled 550 young people, aged under 18, in NSW about their mobile-phone use. The survey found:
- 20% admitted phone debt had caused them major problems
- fewer than 10% knew where to go for help with debt
- 40% had received monthly bills for more than $200
- 4 % had received bills for more than $1500
- more than one in 10 spent more than 50% of their income on phone bills.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald Phone bills putting under-18s in serious debt [viewed 18/01/2007].
Young drivers and road safety, SA, 2003
In 2003, the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia (RAA) conducted a series of metropolitan and regional workshops involving young people aged 15 to 25 years to discuss a range of road safety issues specific to this demographic. Subsequent to this, they surveyed 405 young people through telephone interviews.‘Mobile phones’ was one of the categories included in the survey.
Results:
- Most do not take calls when driving (37% metro, 28% rural).
- Most do not make calls when driving (10% metro, 16% rural).
- Many (39% metro, 42% rural) read text messages when driving.
- Less (20% metro, 23% rural) write/send text messages when driving.
- About 75% agreed mobile phones were a distraction.
Mobile phones
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