Everyone is doing it
A recent European Commission survey has given some rather unsurprising results with regards to the downloading habits of children throughout Europe. Nearly all of the children who were surveyed from 27 European nations, said that they will continue downloading music and video files. The only thing that really worries them is the fear of catching a computer virus.
The children surveyed said that they were aware of the various risks involved, including the fact that it’s completely illegal. However, the most common excuse for downloading was that “everyone is doing it”, including their parents and friends. Other excuses that cropped up in the survey results were that: “the download is for personal and private use”, “the websites compensate the artists”, “claims of harm inflicted on artists by illegal downloads lack credibility” and “CDs and DVDs are too expensive”.
Does anyone else think that the ‘lacking credibility’ excuse sounds awfully grown up for people of a young age?
Other results found in the survey showed that kids use the Internet several times a day and also most own mobile phones. The results showed that Internet useage was often monitored but the use of mobile phones was rarely monitored, if at all. This is something that parents should really be thinking about, as with the advancement of next-generation software and data streams, children will soon be able to access content at relatively fast speeds over their mobile phones. This could lead to unsavoury video and image files being shown.
Surprisingly, the survey also found that children are a lot more aware of online risks such as security, viruses, identity theft and potentially dangerous contact with strangers via chat rooms and message boards.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment