Swedish kids are hitting the Internet at ever earlier ages, said a study published in mid November. Half of Sweden’s three-year-olds have already been online.
In 2000, half of Swedish children had begun using the Internet by the age of 13. By 2004, the beginner age had dropped to nine. By 2008, it stood at five.
According to the study, it went down to three this year.
The study showed that there is also an increase in Internet usage among younger Swedes, with 19 percent of four-year-olds using the Internet on a daily basis, up from two percent in 2009. 25 percent of six-year-olds go online every day compared to five percent two years ago.
85 percent of Sweden’s population have access to Broadband Internet. The figure is larger in Singapore – with a 148.9% broadband penetration rate reported in 2009, we literally have more subscriptions than we have homes.
What does that bode for the toddlers of Singapore, given the situation in Sweden?
38 year old PS Goh is a father of three kids aged seven, five and two. His first child – a girl – first went online at the age of 5, to exchange emails with a friend she had made in kindergarten who later relocated overseas.
Mr Goh’s youngest child is already flicking Angry Birds across the screen at just two years old.
“I am tech savvy,” he said, of his decision to introduce his kids to technology at an early age. “I want my kids to be too.” Nonetheless, while he encourages his children to familiarise themselves with the Internet and other tech devices as early as they can, he does think that the ‘ideal’ age for Internet usage should be around four or five, when children begin reading.
“Three is too young,” he said. “If they cannot read, how do they go online?”
On the other hand, Anthony Toh, 37, who has a sixteen year old daughter, said that he only allowed her online when she was ten. While this initially may have been due to the lack of Internet penetration in Singapore some years back, it may very well be owed to a generation gap.
Mr Goh told us that nowadays, schools and external classes start online lessons very early in a child’s life.
It is comforting to know that local parents do not really encourage their children to go online when they’re too young, but given Singapore’s increasing emphasis on learning (for young children), will we ever follow in the footsteps of Sweden?
