Children and the Internet - Children, Demographics, And The Internet

DEMOGRAPHICS CHILDREN AND THE INTERNET

Nearly two-thirds of all children use the Internet, each logging on for at least seven hours per week. In 2002, according to Jupiter Research, almost 50 percent of Americans aged 13 to 17 will access the Web, as will approximately 22 million children between the ages of eight and 12. An AOL survey of 10,000 parents reported that 25 percent of their children were using computers by age two, and 90 percent were by age six.

The under-21 crowd constitutes the most rapidly burgeoning segment of the Internet population. Those born after 1983, the so-called Generation Y, represent 21 percent of the total U.S. population. They form America's first wired generation, at ease with computer technology and online information. As they come of age and enter the workforce, they will exert a profound influence on the business, consumer, and social habits of the nation. Hard on their heels is an even more Internet savvy group, children under 12, the Internet's second generation. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates dubbed them "Generation I" because they represent the first truly Internet-immersed Americans.

However, not all American children enjoyed equal online opportunities. Only 58 percent of schools where a third or more of the students qualify for government subsidized school meals were connected to the Internet at the end of the 1990s, according to the National Center of Education Statistics. In comparison, that rate increased to 78 percent of schools where only a tenth of the students were eligible for meal subsidies. While the U.S. Department of Education reported that nearly every American child had some Internet access at school, studies suggested that children in lower income families and minority households had less access overall.