Happy Friday! An estimated 24 million children now have access to the Internet and even toddlers as young as 2 years old are exposed to the online world. This week we thought we would update you on what is really going on with our children online. Enjoy! 

From MLC Media Literacy Clearinghouse – Media Use Statistics (December 2008)

• USA – 88%
• Canada – 95%
• Israel – 98%
• Czech Republic – 96%
• Great Britain – 100% (although the statisticians are sceptical) 

• 97% of young respondents claimed to play video games; 99% of male respondents and 94% of female respondents. Little differences were found across racial and income groups.
• 7% of those surveyed who didn’t have a computer at home, did have a gaming console. 

• Children aged 10-14 claim that the computer is a bigger draw then than the TV.
• One fifth of infants and toddlers under the age of 3 have a television in their bedrooms.
• 83% of children aged 10-14 spend at least an hour online everyday, while on 68% spend as much time in front of the TV.
• 40% of children aged 9 to 11 spend over two hours in front of the TV each day.
• 50% of the most popular websites for children aged 6 to 11 were directly related to TV networks.
• 50% of 9–17 year olds visit websites they see on TV even as they continue to watch.

• One in four girls and one in five boys in the 9-11 age group have a computer in their room and are most likely to use it to play games.
• Children aged 9-11 spent less time online: 55% of boys and 46% of girls spend less than an hour online each day and possibly do not go online at all during the week.
• About 80% of younger kids and 90% of older kids use computers at school and 75% of younger kids and 85% of older kids use computers at home. 

• 72% of children surveyed said that they belong to a social networking site (usually MySpace).
• 60% of children surveyed never or very rarely read blogs.
• According to a new study from Nielsen Online, YouTube is the most popular site among 2 – 11 year olds, with over 4.1 million users in this age group.
• The Disneychannel.com is the second most popular site among children with 1.3 million viewers in an average month.
• Other popular youth sites included MySpace.com, NickJr and
  Google Video.

• Some 35% of US kids aged 8-12, own a mobile phone and 5% access the Internet over their phones each month.
• 20% have used text messaging, while 21% have used ringtones or ringback tones.
• Of the 5% of children who use their phones to access the Internet, 41% said they did so while commuting or travelling while 56% did so at home.
• 58% said they downloaded or watched TV on their phones at home and 64% downloaded or played music on their phones.

• One in four children were sent pictures of people who were naked or having sex.
• An estimated 725,000 children have been "aggressively" asked for sex, defined as an offer to meet in person.
• 75% of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services.
• Only 25% of the youth who encountered a sexual approach or solicitation told a parent
• One in five US teenagers who regularly log on to the Internet say that they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation via the Web.
• 77% of the targets for online predators were age 14 or older, while 22% were between the ages of 10 and 13.
• Only 17% of the youth and 11% of the parents surveyed could name a specific authority, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or CyberTipline, to which they could report an Internet crime.
• Only a third of the households surveyed with Internet access are proactively protecting their children.