According to this article in the Guardian:
They mature more quickly, are said to be more responsible and do better at school. Now media-savvy girls are putting another one over the boys by leading the digital communications revolution.
After one of the most comprehensive studies of the effect on children of the explosion in media choices of the past 15 years, the regulator Ofcom said girls aged 12 to 15 are more likely than boys to have a mobile phone, use the internet, listen to the radio and read newspapers or magazines. Only when it comes to playing computer and console games do boys overtake girls.
Given the historic domination of the home telephone by teenage girls, perhaps it is not surprising they are using the internet to communicate with friends for hours on end. Almost all children between 12 and 15 with the internet at home said they were “confident” surfing the web and did so on average for eight hours a week. But girls are more likely than boys to use the web as a communication tool.
The study, focusing on children aged between eight and 15, also showed the extent to which mobile phones and the internet are taken for granted by primary school children. Their 11th birthday appears to be the tipping point, with eight of out of 10 children having their own handset by that age.
The picture of a generation used to juggling a range of electronic devices will be heavily drawn upon by ageing media executives grappling with the rapidly changing landscape. The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, last week announced a radical reimagining of the corporation’s role in an on-demand age.
Read the entire piece here. Via cool law prof Eileen Kane.
