Ofcom: six-year-olds understand digital technology better than adults

LONDON. KAZINFORM They may not know who Steve Jobs was or even how to tie their own shoelaces, but the average six-year-old child understands more about digital technology than a 45-year-old adult, according to an authoritative new report published on Thursday.

The advent of broadband in the year 2000 has created a generation of digital natives, the communication watchdog Ofcom says in its annual study of British consumers. Born in the new millennium, these childrenhave never known the dark ages of dial up internet, and the youngest are learning how to operate smartphones or tablets before they are able to talk. "These younger people are shaping communications," said Jane Rumble, Ofcom's media research head. "As a result of growing up in the digital age, they are developing fundamentally different communication habits from older generations, even compared to what we call the early adopters, the 16-to-24 age group." Ofcom devised a "digital quotient", or DQ test to put 800 children and 2000 adults through their paces, which rather than measuring intelligence attempts to gauge awareness and self confidence around gadgets from tablets to smart watches, knowledge of superfast internet,4G mobile phone networks and mobile apps, the Guardian reports. Among six to seven year olds, who have grown up with YouTube, Spotify music streaming and the BBC iPlayer, the average DQ (digital quotient) score was 98, higher than for those aged between 45 and 49, who scored an average of 96. Digital understanding peaks between 14- and 15-years-old, with a DQ of 113 - and then drops gradually throughout adulthood, before falling rapidly in old age. The nation is now being invited to test its digital knowledge with anabbreviated version of the questionnaire that will give any member of the public a DQ score, along with advice on how to improve their understanding and protect themselves and their families online. While half of all adults claimed to know a lot about smartphone and tablet apps, nearly half had never heard of Snapchat, the picture messaging service launched in 2011. The smart glasses being developed by Google, and the smart watch Apple is expected to launch before the end of the year, are also something of a mystery to older technology users, with nearly half of all adults unaware of these devices. More than half of children aged 6-15 claim to use and know a lot about smartphone and tablet apps, with only 3% having never heard of them. Snapchat is particularly popular, with 18% of children claiming to have used the app and a further 11% knowing a lot about it. The ways in which millennial children contact each other and consume entertainment are so different from previous generations, forecasters now consider their preferences a better indication of the future than those of trend setting young adults. The most remarkable change is in time spent talking by phone. Two decades ago, teenagers devoted their evenings to monopolising the home telephone line, dissecting love affairs and friendships in conversations that lasted for hours. Read more here