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Younger Children Still Need to Develop Key Online Skills, Finds Europe-wide Study

London, April 5, 2011 (Jim McDonnell) - Teenagers are fast gaining the skills they need for the digital era. But ever younger children are now using the internet, and a new report finds that many of them lack basic internet skills.

A survey of children in 25 European countries showed that less than half of 11-13-year olds are able to perform relatively simple tasks like bookmarking a web page or blocking unwanted messages. The research, published by EU Kids Online, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), found that:

Children from Finland claim to be the most skilful online, followed by those from Slovenia and the Netherlands, while those in Lithuania claim the greatest range of activities. Ireland stands out as the country where children do the fewest activities online, though Turkey is low on both measures.

Children from homes of higher socio-economic status say they have more digital skills than those from poorer homes, and teenage boys claim more skills than girls

In eight online skills, ranging from blocking junk mail and changing privacy settings to bookmarking websites and finding safety information, younger children showed a significant lack of skill, with 11-12-year-olds able to perform just 2.8 of these tasks, rising to 4.3 for 13-14-year-olds and 5.2 for 15-16 year olds.

Full details of Digital Literacy and Safety Skills from EU Kids Online

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