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| Summary of Findings |
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| Summary of SIP Student Panel Survey |
| Overall Internet Usage among panel students: |
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Computer ownership increased from 90.1% in 1999, to 90.9% in 2000 and shot up to 96.1% in 2001. |
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The percentage of Internet users increased from 70% in 1999, to 84.3% in 2000 before rocketing to 95.2% in 2001. |
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Time spent on using the Internet per week too increased from 5.92 hours in 1999, to 9.19 hours in 2000 to 12.91 hours in 2001. |
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Information-seeking was the most popular online activity in 2000 among the Singaporean students but was overtaken by entertainment and online chat in 2001. |
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Entertainment became the most popular online activity in 2001 |
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| Digital Divide |
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There seems to be a digital divide along the SES lines (i.e. housing type, parents’ education and family income) in the first year. |
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Digital divide seems to be narrowing each year. |
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With the development and improvement of IT environment in schools and Singapore in general, the digital divide has practically disappeared by the time the students reach Sec 3. |
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| Family, Social Interaction and Studies |
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The frequency of Internet users having dinner and outing with family members increased along with the increase in Internet usage from 2000 to 2001. |
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According to the students· self reports, the majority of the Internet users experienced no change in the amount of face-to-face interaction with their families after using the Internet. |
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With regards to social interaction, the majority of the Internet users reported no change in contact after using the Internet with people who either share their hobbies, religion or worries. |
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The majority of the students also felt that there was no change in their face-to-face interaction with friends since using the Internet in 2000 and 2001. |
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Internet users tend to score better in their exams than their non-users counterparts in each of the three years. |
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In terms of perceived impact of the Internet on their study life, majority of the students reported no change in their concentration, productivity and study load. |
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Nearly half of the students thought that they have become more creative after using the Internet in both 2000 and 2001. |
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| Attitudes toward the Internet |
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Over 80% of the Internet users indicated that the Internet was important to them. |
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A vast majority (over 90%) of Internet users thought that the Internet was useful with the percentage of those who thought so increasing each year. |
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More students (from 58% in 1999 to 90% in 2001) in each subsequent year felt that the Internet could make their life more convenient. |
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The perception of the Internet being interesting was consistently high (67.6%-85.1%) throughout all three years for both Internet users and non-users. |
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Consistently over the years, only around 60% of both Internet users and non-users felt that the Internet was a good thing for society. |
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Friends remained the top spot for students to talk to about the Internet and who encouraged them to use the Internet. |
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Parents and teachers were also sources of information, with more than 70% of parents and teachers encouraging the students to use the Internet. |
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| Media Use |
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Internet users spent more time watching television than using the Internet |
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Time spent on radio continued to increase despite overtaken by Internet usage in 2001 |
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Newspaper reading time remained the same throughout all three years despite the increase in Internet usage during the same period. |
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Internet users saw the Internet as an important information source. |
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Most of the findings in the report could be attributed to a combination of factors like age, school level, and change in school or societal environment. As such, further explorations using other qualitative research methods, like focus groups, is recommended to further extend the findings of this study. |
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| For the detailed report, click here to download. |
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