A new report has been released by the British government which shows how British teenagers spend their vacations. There are some surprising results.
1000 teenagers were surveyd across the United Kingdom after the recent Winter break. They were asked three simple questions:
1. How often were you online? What device did you use?
2. How often did you leave your house to meet friends, go shopping etc?
3. Did you feel happy at the end of your vacation? If not, why not?
78% of respondants said that they were online everyday, for at least 4 hours. Of those 78%, 83% said that they use a smartphone such as the Galaxy S3 or the iPhone 5.
15% of respondants said that they wanted to be online more but that their parents limited their internet life. When asked how parents achieved this, the most common answer was that the parents simply took the device away before bedtime, returning it in the morning. Another method mentioned was parents installed software on the device to monitor internet usage and any usage after a certain time, eg 11pm, resulted in a penalty. The most common penalty was a household chore such as washing dishes or walking the dog. One more unusual method that parents employed was paying their children a small amount of money as a reward for responsible internet use. Some parents also showed their children videos highlighting the danger to health of not getting enough proper sleep.
Only 32% of respondants said that they left their house every day. The most common reason was to go shopping with friends and have lunch together. 49% of respondants said that they didn't feel it necessary to go and meet friends because they could easily chat on Facebook, Viber or Skype. The most popular app for chatting was Viber. When questioned about the benefits of chatting electronically instead of face-to-face, a popular reponse was that chatting electronically meant it was easier to do other things whilst chatting eg doing homework or chatting with other people on the internet.
9% of respondants surprisingly said that they never left their house during the vacation. They stayed at home every day. 1% of respondants said they they never left their bedroom. In the government's opinion, as stated on a recent television program, this is a worrying trend amongst teenage netizens.
56% of repsondants said that they did not feel happy at the endof the vacation. The most common reason was that every day was the same and the hoiday became increasingly boring. Some respondants complained of headaches and eye strain because of spending too much time hooked up the internet. 3% of respndants admitted to an addiction to the internet and 47% have already made a resolution to spend less time online in teh new year, spending more time socially with family and friends and a further promise to do more exercise.