My PhD Blog

I just read an interesting article about how Swedish children are upset over their parents’ use of the internet - in particular, if the parents are visiting pornographic web pages. It is the recent report from the Swedish organisation BRIS (Children’s Rights in Society) that documents the worries that children have when it comes to their parents’ online habits.

Besides the pornographic webpages the children are also worried that their parents gamble or shop too much online. Also, it seems that many children find that their parents spend too much time in front of the computer screen.

I find it interesting that we often talk about how parents should keep an eye on their childrens’ internet habits, when - apparently - it also goes the other way around

Read the Swedish report from BRIS (which also entails other interesting points) here.

A new Danish survey dealing with young people’s use of the internet to purchase or sell sex shows that every tenth of the participants in the survey has received payment.

2367 Danish young people between the age of 14 and 24 have participated in the survey.

• 79,8 % of them have never given or received any payment for sex - and don’t know anyone who has.
• 9,8 % of them know someone who has either given or received payment for sex.
• 9,1 % of them have received some kind of payment for sex.
• 1,3% of them have given some kind of payment for sex.

The study is conducted by Cyberhus, a Danish online community for children and young people run by social workers, for Aarhus City Council. Read more about the study here and read the whole report here (only in Danish).

It is important to know that one cannot simply conclude that one out of every tenth youngster in Denmark has received payment for sex. As project coordinator, Jonas Ravn, says in a newsletter from Cyberhus:

Man kan ikke ud fra undersøgelsen konkludere, at hver 10. unge i Danmark har solgt sex. Men 9,1 procent af de unge, der har valgt at deltage i vores undersøgelse, har fået betaling for at levere seksuelle ydelser. Men egentlig er det ikke undersøgelsens primære mål at undersøge omfanget, men at se på, om og hvordan de unge bruger nettet til at lave aftaler om sex.

Also, the definition of payment includes not only money, also but material things such as alcohol, cigarettes and clothes.

Furthermore, the study shows that the sale and payment of sex often take place between friends and acquaintances. And most often as a sudden impulse.

Danish girls between the age of 10 and 14 years old are considered to be “heavy users” when it comes to time consumption on the internet. New figures from The Association of Danish Internet Media (FDIM) show that girls within this age group spend in average 11 hours a month on Danish sites (which are part of the official measurement of internet traffic) whereas boys between 10 and 14 years old “only” spend in average seven hours.

Among the most popular sites for both sexes are Arto, MSN and DR (meaning that those are the sites with the biggest “reach” within the target group of 10-14-year-old’s).

The 10-14 year old girls are most heavily represented on:

1. Vi Unge
2. GoSupermodel
3. Arto

whereas the 10-14 year old boys are most heavily represented on:

1. Vix
2. Arto
3. The Voice

compared to their representation on the internet in general.

The figures also show that the average female Arto user between 10-14 spend slightly more that 13 hours a month on the site, whereas the average male user between 10-14 spend a little under 10 hours a month on Arto.

Read the article from FDIM here and see the figures and measurements here.

(NOTE: These figures are solely based on internet traffic in July 2007, they only measure traffic on Danish sites (and not the international ones that Danish children are using) and only traffic on the sites which are members of FDIM).

How do children across Europe deal with online risks? The new Eurobarometer survey from the EU Commission has interviewed children of 9-10 and 12-14 from 29 European countries about their use of new media and online technologies. I find it assuring that the survey shows that children generally are aware of potential risks and the precautions they need to take online :

The results show that children are globally well aware of the potential online risks, such as security, viruses, access to unwanted content, identity theft and potential dangerous contact with strangers.

Unfortunately - but not surprisingly - the survey also shows that European children are reluctant to tell parents about the troubles they face online:

Even though young people know about of the risks and precautions, most would rather try to solve the problem themselves or with friends, and would talk to their parents only as a last resort in the most serious cases.

Read more here or download the overall report.

A new Danish website, “Speak4You.dk“, offers teenagers to help them break up with their boyfriends or girlfriends. The youngsters “only” have to pay 125 Danish kroner in order to have the website send out a letter with the gloomy message. In an article in Politiken the creator explains that many young people have a hard time saying things as the are and using the website would be a better alternative to break up with someone through a sms message.

The website also offers to send out letters with apologies, secrets or love letters, but the creator predicts that the “break-up-service” will be the most popular… With 125 DKR a letter, I doubt it.

Read the article (in Danish) here.