From...

July 27, 1999
Web posted at: 11:37 a.m. EDT (1537 GMT)

by David Lake

(IDG) -- Surfing the Net isn't as much fun for children as their parents might think.

Despite the growing perception that America's kids have ditched ball fields and arcades in favor of clicking through the Web, the Internet has yet to displace traditional entertainment, according to a new survey from Arbitron NewMedia, a research firm in New York.

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While use of the Net among children is growing, the report says that almost half of children ages 8 to 15 prefer to watch television when relaxing after school, followed by radio, videogames, the telephone and even books. The Internet, meanwhile, ranked last among leisure activities, the survey found.

But that's not to say children aren't using the Net. According to the report, they're going to the Web for school and learning. More than one-third of kids said the Internet was their primary research tool for book reports and papers, a figure that provokes its own set of questions. First among them, how to separate fact from fiction online.

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Media Education, a Washington-based watchdog group, says that content is often put forward by ambiguous sources. Given the Web's powerful delivery, parents and schools have to be cautious of what kids view, particularly in chat rooms. It's especially difficult, he says, for kids to "distinguish advertising from content."

Arbitron researchers agree. "When new media comes along, those steeped in older media are naturally fearful," says Arbitron's Roberta McConochie, who organized the study, which surveyed more than 450 children ages 8 to 15 and parents or older siblings.

McConochie says that even though most parents recognize they have a role to play in introducing their children to the Net, many remain baffled by how to cope with the Net's rapid growth. The Arbitron findings bear this out: 71 percent of parents surveyed expressed concern about their child's Web use and believe that supervision is necessary. And 45 percent of parents agreed that the Internet is "dangerous to children due to easy access to X-rated content." Indeed, the survey showed that children spend the most time on the Internet after school – before many parents have made it home from work.

Parents are also anxious, the survey found, because their children don't turn to them for advice on how to use the Internet. Fifty-four percent of the children say they talk to their friends for Web site recommendations, while only five percent consult their parents.

"Most children realize that their parents and teachers lack Web knowledge," McConochie says. "There is tremendous room for adults to come up to speed, and guide their children's online experience."