Over 6 million children are disconnected in the country

Survey by Cetic.br on Internet use by children and adolescents also reveals that 40% of young users have seen someone being discriminated against online

In 2015, 6.3 million children and adolescents were not connected to the Internet in Brazil, representing 21% of the population aged between 9 and 17 years. Among them, 3.6 million had never accessed the web. This is what the 4th edition of the TIC Kids Online Brasil 2015 survey, conducted by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), indicates. The survey investigates the access to and use of the Internet by children and adolescents in the country and considered young people who accessed the Internet in the three months prior to the study as connected.

Regional and socioeconomic inequalities, as well as the lack of availability of connection at home, are challenges for the digital inclusion of this segment of the population. According to the study, 15% of children and adolescents reported that the lack of access in their homes was a reason for not using the Internet. This was mainly cited by young people in rural areas (32%), in the Northeast (21%) and North (32%) regions, in classes D and E (37%), and among people with a family income of up to 1 minimum wage (32%). The TIC Kids Online Brasil survey was conducted between November 2015 and June 2016, throughout the national territory.

“There are 3.6 million children, of school age, who have never had contact with the Internet, who are unaware of the potential of the web as a communication tool, a source of knowledge, and a means to develop new skills. It is crucial to draw attention to the youth and discuss public policies so that everyone has quality access to the Internet and no one is left behind. But inclusion policies alone are not enough; we need to think about protection policies for our children in the online environment," highlights Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

Connectivity and frequency of access

Among connected young people, the results also indicate the existence of regional and socioeconomic disparities in access to the Internet. Eight out of ten children and adolescents were Internet users in 2015, which represents 23.4 million young people across the country. While in urban areas 84% of children and adolescents were connected, in rural areas, this proportion was 56%. In the South region, 90% of young people declared being Internet users, while in the North, only 54%. Another determining factor is the socioeconomic situation: 97% of children from classes A and B accessed the Internet, compared to only half of the young people from classes D and E (51%).

Regarding the frequency of Internet use by children and adolescents, the survey recorded a significant increase: in 2014, 21% said they accessed the Internet more than once a day; in 2015, this proportion reached 68% – an increase of 47 percentage points. This growth was even more significant among children from classes A and B (from 21% to 80%). Among young people belonging to classes D and E, intensive web use grew less, from 25% to 51%.

The use of mobile devices to access the Internet remained significant among the young audience. In 2015, 85% accessed the Internet through mobile phones – in 2014, this proportion was 82%, indicating stability. The TIC Kids Online Brasil 2015 survey also found that 31% of children and adolescents accessed the Internet exclusively through this device. This proportion was 55% among young people from classes D and E. Meanwhile, computers (desktops, laptops, and tablets) lost ground: 64% of children used such devices to access the web, a decline of 17 percentage points compared to 2014.

Intolerance and hate speech online

In 2015, TIC Kids Online Brasil began to incorporate new questions about intolerance and hate speech on the web. According to the study, 40% of child and adolescent Internet users reported having seen someone discriminated against online in the past year – equivalent to 9.3 million young people.

Contact with cases of discrimination is higher among teenagers: among users aged 15 to 17, the proportion reaches 52%. For children aged 9 and 10, the percentage is 14%. Among the reasons identified for discrimination, 25% of child users cited racial prejudice; 14% mentioned physical appearance; and 11% mentioned same-sex relationships.

A smaller portion of young users (6%) reported having suffered some form of discrimination on the Internet in the past year. “As in the offline world, a child is also exposed to risks on the Internet. They need to be addressed not only in the family sphere but also in the educational system and public policies, to ensure the protection of children’s rights,” points out Barbosa. 

About the study

The TIC Kids Online Brasil survey aims to understand how the population aged 9 to 17 uses the Internet and how they deal with the risks and opportunities that arise from this use. The survey interviewed 3,068 children and adolescents, as well as their parents or guardians, and is aligned with the methodological framework of the European network EU Kids Online.

To access the full survey results, as well as sample errors and the historical series, visit: https://cetic.br/pesquisa/kids-online/indicadores.

Compare the evolution of the indicators using the available data visualization at: https://data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_KIDS.

About Cetic.br

The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, a department of NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, publishing periodic analyses and information on the development of the web in the country. Cetic.br is a Regional Study Center, under the auspices of Unesco. More information at https://www.cetic.br/.

About the Information and Coordination Center of Ponto BR – NIC.br

The Information and Coordination Center of Ponto BR — NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a private, non-profit civil entity that implements the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. The permanent activities of NIC.br include coordinating domain name registration — Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding to, and handling security incidents in Brazil — CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching network technologies and operations — Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing indicators on information and communication technologies — Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), implementing and operating Internet Exchange Points — IX.br (https://ix.br/), enabling the Brazilian community's participation in the global development of the Web, and supporting public policy formulation — Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br), and hosting the W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee is responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinating and integrating all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and the dissemination of available services. Based on the principles of multistakeholderism and transparency, CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, praised internationally, where all sectors of society participate equally in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information at https://www.cgi.br/.

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Last updated: 10/28/2016. For more details, consult the correction note.

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