Teens More Active than Adults

By Charles Moffat - March 2008.

It is adults, not teenagers who are more plugged in to the internet. Teenagers are twice as likely to be more active physically with respect to sports and exercise than adults, and spend less time on the internet than the average adult or senior.

Teenagers are not as tech savvy as we think they are according to a new Ipsos Reid study. They may stay up late, download music mp3s, play their music loud, but teenagers spend less time per week online on average than adults do.

The study by Ipsos Reid was released yesterday surveyed 1,272 kids age 12 to 17 and 1,041 adults, and found that teenagers ages 12 to 17 spend only an average of 13 hours a week online. Teens sometimes spend their time online multi-tasking by simultaneously watching TV, doing homework or talking on their cellphones while surfing the net or answering emails. Adults however (ages 18 to 100+) however spend an average of 19 hours per week online, either when they are at home or at work.

A large aspect of this is actually seniors over the age of 55 whom are the 2nd most frequent users of the internet (the most frequent is the 35 to 55 age group). Slightly less than 50% of seniors in North America use the internet, but those that do are usually online for 20 or more hours per week.

In contrast 87% of teenagers use the internet, but do so for an average of 13 hours per week, and usually just to check email, do homework, watch some videos and maybe download porn. Most teenagers still don't have a computer in their bedrooms (although it is increasingly becoming the norm) and many parents try to keep the computer in the family room or a den so they can keep an eye on what their kids are doing.

For myself I work online during my day job plus I have numerous responsibilities for this website, so I am on the internet 50 to 60 hours per week, and most of it is boring HTML code work. No surprise it is likely the people who spend 100 or more hours online per week who are really boosting the percentages for adults.

The study also found teenagers focus on a limited number of activities such as chatting, downloading music or playing games. Many teenagers aren't comfortable navigating much beyond that and aren't fluent in issues like privacy and security. The survey shows that "we can't assume every teen is an early adopter or a tech-savvy user," said Steve Mossop, president of market research for Ipsos Reid in Western Canada.

World Stats for Internet Use

The United States still leads the world with the highest number of internet users (now up to 212 million) and an increasing number of which who have broadband connections (58 million). China is now 2nd place and has tonnes of room to grow (162 million users including 35 million with broadband). Japan, Germany and India are currently 3rd, 4th and 5th places with India also rising fast.

Interesting Tidbit: Obesity rates in the United States are also skyrocketing, tripling in the last 20 years. In China the obesity rate has doubled in the last 15 years. In Japan obesity rates have jumped 50% in the last 10 years. Germany and India have also seen a shocking rise in obesity rates. Whether this is connected to more people spending time on the internet is unknown.

In the United States the number of adults who participate in 1 or more sports or active recreation has fallen by 48% in the last 10 years and Canada also has seen a similar drop in adults who participate in sports.