A.2 Aspectos socioeconómicos
B.2.1 Principio de funcionamiento y calibración del equipo de detección
Portable devices, tablets and smart- phones, are still children’s preferences for the same reasons as last year: they like the size of their screen, their ease of use, their versatility and portability. Another important reason for chil- dren’s attachment to smartphones and tablets is that often they are perceived as their ownership, while (Smart) TV belongs to the entire family.
TV and Smart TV especially are gain- ing back children’s interest as reported from the Spanish part of the study for their new interactive and on-demand
Illustrations of typical digital activities of children aged 6-7 and less: videos (cartoons), video games, drawings, children’s driving interests such as pets.
Source: European Commission
features and large size screen, although the novelty effect might also account for its popularity… or not.
Time ago, the mobile phone was my fa- vourite device because it was new. Now, I’m used to it. I am also used to the smart TV, but I’m not getting bored of it (Spanish girl, 9).
The tablet is still the favourite de- vice for many children (especially in Belgium, Malta, Spain, Switzerland), but half of them prefer smartphones now instead (especially in Bulgaria, The Netherlands, and Russia) and the majority of the oldest children wish to gain ownership of one. Indeed, the oldest children in the sample (aged 8-9) perceive the smartphone as the
This is probably why PC’s and laptops are next in the preference line, unlike a year ago where Game consoles were more popular.
Some children are allowed to use their parents’ laptop. This new behaviour might be a result of the development of their fine motor skills and also of their reading and writing skills. This interest also depends, as we saw al- ready, on the role played by school, which may or may not stimulate the use of digital devices for online searches or for homework. Interest- ingly, with the exception of the Mal- tese children used now to the daily usage of tablets at school, children do not perceive the tablet or the smart- phone as devices they can use for schoolwork. Also, when it comes to schoolwork, the parents usually direct them to the computer. Researchers noticed also a correlation between ac- tive mediation to support school work and the interest generated by laptops and PC’s. It seems that the children that are less stimulated to use digital technologies by the school and by the parents are less interested in the computer, mainly for school-related searches or work.
Game consoles seem to have lost chil- dren’s interest since last year, while DVD and MP3 players seem obsolete. On the whole sample, only a few fam- ilies acquired other connected devices for their children use: a smart watch, a pair of 3D Google glasses. Over the year, the media has focused on new kinds of toys such as augmented re- ality toys, 3D-virtual reality glasses or internet connected toys without screen. The families who participated in this second round of fieldwork did grown-up’s device. If they do not own
a smartphone yet, they rank it high on their wish list. Most of the older chil- dren who don’t have smartphones are asking their parents for one, and claim that they want to keep in touch with their friends.
They perceive smartphone and its ownership as synonymous of inde- pendence, autonomy and freedom while also providing the tangible sign that, by owning a ‘grown-up’ device, they are themselves grow-ups now. Something that does relate positively to the perceptions of certain devices are skills. When a child is able to han- dle a certain device on his or her own, that device is viewed more positively.
Illustrations of typical digital activities of children aged 8-9: videos (mu- sic), video games, tutorials, reviews and series.
Source: European Commission
The youngest children of the sample, mirror their parents’ beliefs and fears, such as those two boys aged 7 from Croatia.
I’m not supposed to look at it for too long because it can hurt my eyes. My grand- pa says so, and he knows, he’s a doctor. (Croatian boy, 7)
(Croatian boy, 7) knows that someone might contact him over the computer and is instructed to tell his parents about it straight away if something like that happens, but he doesn’t really under- stand how someone could contact him because he doesn’t use any communica- tion tools on the computer (Croatian national report).
The oldest might have their percep- tions enriched by new knowledge as this report by Portuguese researchers illustrates.
Another novelty is the mastery of pass- words. All the children succeeded in ex- plaining what passwords are, referring to them as a code [Portuguese girl, 7], that is important for security reasons, for instance, (...) if someone steals your smartphone and it has a password, the thief won’t be able to find out (...) [Por- tuguese boy, 8], and they also identified other types of passwords. (…)
All the children know what Wi-Fi is, and they know that in public places like restaurants or at other people’s homes, they can ask for the password. They are able to configure and connect to Wi-Fi, and they want to do it in order to watch videos on YouTube and play. (…) About viruses, they have less accurate perceptions. They say it’s something that stays in the technology (Portuguese boy, 9), and ruins the devices (Portuguese national report).
not seem very interested in them. The girl that used her smart watch to ‘spy on’ her friend in the first round of in- terviews stopped using it rapidly and the family that has 3D google glasses does not really use them. This round of interviews reported little presence/ penetration of 3D and connected toys in family digital life.