Last week I attended an interesting Market Research Society conference entitled Children – seen & heard . It was a mix of fact and opinion and about the children’s world, how it can be researched and some research results. I really enjoyed the first half and sure I would have enjoyed the second but alas I had to leave at lunchtime due to the dual pressure of having to attend Toy Fair.

So what did I learn? Lots, because when learned speakers give up their time you are always destined to learn something and in this case I got that kids love on-line (we knew that) and that they are spending more time on-line (we knew that too) and furthermore that adult brands such as the BBC take their roles very seriously in making on-line as safe as possible for kids (we may not know this, but we have every right to expect it!). So you could say “nothing new here” ; but you’d be wrong to assume that.

I learned, or should I arrogantly say: “had confirmed”, that kids are the same now as they always were; they grow up at the same pace and they develop just as we did, with the same desires and feelings. The only difference is that the kids of today have different tools by which they can express themselves and the on-line landscape is just one of those in addition to what we had in TV and books, and comics and radio!

Marc Goodchild the digital kids guru at the BBC made a very interesting point – that the UK press is quick to perceive a child’s time spent on the computer to be a bad thing; but he also pointed out that most young children use the Internet to read about stuff and to get information as well as the major reason which is to play games. Marc then showed us a press headline which praised books as being fantastic for children because reading broadens the mind, ergo reading on the Internet should also be seen in a positive light!

What is startling is the pace of change and how children are adapting to their communicative environment and taking it on with gusto. It is as if they are saying that we have the same right to our own on-line community as adults do; and of course they do, who are we to do one thing and then deprive our children of the very same thing?
We must of course be vigilant, adults should act to protect children and to act with honesty and integrity when dealing on-line just as we would expect in “real life” and the conference made very valid points as to how we should be behaving when researching the digital space. The ethics still apply and we should still be aware of the data protection act and the need for parental permission when collecting data from minors.

Which brings me on to a key issue. Many speakers mentioned this: the fact that many teens on-line lie about their age, pretend they have parental permission and prevent their parents from seeing what they do whilst on the Internet. The children themselves are leaving themselves open and parents will know little about it and they are doing it because they want to play in the adult space, to join the same communities as their parents and to do it in a “grown-up” way. By being aware of it, parents will be able to have the discussion with their children and although they are teenagers and pretend not to listen, they will discuss it with their friends and will hopefully be Internet-safe.

On a lighter note, what this trend also highlights is how quickly the on-line gaming, so called “social gaming” is coming into the sphere of influence of children. Facebook games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Cafe World are already researching high on recall for teens. When this happens it does take long before 10-12 year olds take them up and then they will start to become household brands, with multi-media possibilities. Watch this space.

So should we beware kids on-line? I think we need to be aware and so do they, but there are too many positives for us to think it’s wrong and of course it’s too late. So act honestly and with integrity, which includes the researchers, and then the internet will be a force for good and Globally too.

[NB. I learned some more interesting facts and opinions from the conference and will tell these soon]

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