Girls better at new media than boys!

Parents have long known that girls mature faster than boys. But a major study by UK regulator Ofcom reveals that they are also more likely to adapt to new media faster. Girls aged eight to 15 are more likely to use the Internet and own a handset than their male counterparts – a phenomenon that accelerates around age 11 as girls enter a “social” phase defined by chatting with friends.

Some 80% of UK children have their own mobile phone by age 11, while Internet use surges to an average eight hours per week the next year.

But while young children are generally more proficient with both technologies than their parents, Ofcom warns that they might not yet have developed the mental acuity to successfully navigate the Internet. Roughly 40% of children use the Internet alone, increasing the chance of coming across “worrying” material. More troubling, according to Ofcom? About 66% of kids believe everything they read on the Internet is true. “If kids are doing these things by themselves, they're not following the rules set by their parents and they don't know who to trust on the Internet, then that's quite a worrying position and one we need to deal with. The next step is to work out what it all means and where we go next,” said Ofcom radio and multimedia director Peter Davies.


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