People and the Internet - Who Uses The Internet? Young People

According to A Nation Online, more than 31 million individuals under the age of eighteen were using the Internet as of September 2001 (there are more than 65 million people under 18 in the United States). Slightly more than 13 million were using the Web in September 1997. The presence of young people on the Web is quite impressive: those between the ages of 12 and 17 now make up 12% of the Internet population in the United States, according to Media Metrix (an interesting side note: the figure is the same in Europe).

The graphic shows the percent of the age group that is Internet users. The numbers are vivid and fairly easy to explain: computers are simply a common and integral part of young people's lives. More than 50% of households with children own a computer, according to Computer Intelligence. The number of kids with classroom Web access is expected to jump from 1.5 million in 1996 to 20.2 million in 2002, according to Jupiter Research.

The favorite online activities for these age groups are probably no surprise. Kids 5-12 ranked e-mail, homework research, and game playing as their top online pursuits; top activities for teenagers were e-mail, using search engines, and instant messaging. There is a surprise to be found here, however: Jupiter Media Metrix shows that adults spent more time online than teenagers did and accessed the Web more often.

Average MonthlyNet Use in Minutes

Date	Teens	Adults
June 2000	321	728
November 2000	272	858
April 2001	264	837

Average MonthlyNet Access In Days

Date	Teens	Adults
June 2000	8.6	14.7
November 2000	8.9	15.7
April 2001	8.5	15.3

Why the discrepancy? Jupiter analysts have attributed it to teenagers' active schedules, having to share a computer with other family members, and perceiving the PC as an entertainment rather than as a productivity tool.

Teenagers aren't big online shoppers, either. Jupiter reports that in a recent survey, only 15% of teens purchased items online. Those who did purchased lower-priced items like CDs and books. Considering teenagers' limited income, this makes sense. Children, the next generation of credit card holders, are getting the message, too: a survey by NFO Interactive found that more than 50% of children have asked their parents to buy products they have seen while surfing the Internet. Kids and teens are expected to spend $4.9 billion in 2005, but the spending they promote offline is expected to exceed $21 billion for the same year. In short, advertising to teenagers and children pays off.

Some final observations about the data in the chart. Almost 30% of 3-8 year olds are online. Is this too young? Are they supervised? In a telling comment about children's technical proficiency with computers, Wired magazine quotes the general manager of Disclaiming: "it's rather common for a 3-year-old to understand the basics of using a mouse and clicking on pictures on a computer screen." Only a few years ago, "kids weren't usually comfortable using a mouse until the age of 6 or so."

What happened to stuffed animals, a good book, and an even better imagination?

Sources: Lake, David. "Teens Turn On, Tune In, Log Off." Industry Standard, July 23, 2001; Annette Hamilton. "Online Kids…Tomorrow's Opportunity." Retrieved online at http://zdnet.com.com/2001-11-0. Joanna Glaser. "Kid Surfers: Time to Buck Up!" Wired, September 2000; Michael Pastore. "Marketing to the Net's Future Means Marketing to Youths." Retrieved March 6, 2002 from http://cyberatlas.internet.com.