Table of contents:

About the author(s):

Description:

Minors’ Internet use is an essential concern of the whole society. It is a grand strategy for building a cyberpower and the growth of minors in the future. This book is one of the results of the Internet Use by Minors in China Survey，a sub-project of the China Wangmai Project. The survey has been in conduction since the launch of the proiect in 2006. By January 2020，a total of ten national sample surveys have been completed. This volume of the Internet Use by Minors in China Blue Book is based on data of the tenth survey and special surveys conducted by various authors. Combining a variety of studies，this book reports on the latest status of internet use among Chinese minors，with topical discussions on trending issues of their online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The book continues to focus on the current status of internet use among the primary school students in Beijing，and compares and updates the characteristics of Internet use and online behavior of minors in Guangdong Province.

With rapid development of online digital technologies，the Internet has been deeply integrated and embedded in the everyday life and learning of adolescents. Placed in the environment of China’s Internet development，the relationship between China’s youth and the Internet should be further reflected and reconstructed. First，minors’ online behavior and cognition have been deeply embedded in the digital age，thus how they can better survive digitally will be the focus. Second，teenagers are the driving force of a strong cyberpower. They are participants and creators of cyber culture，and perpetuate the inheritance of Chinese culture in cyberspace. Third，the youth growing up in the internet era need to be protected by the society. They must also have a sense of responsibility to create cyberpower in the new era. We should actively use development to promote protection and build a solid foundation for the construction of cyberpower. Fourth，internet literacy has become a survival skill for teenagers，and it naturally as a type of civic literacy in the digital age. Therefore，the research direction of this book is to interconnect Internet use，cyberpower，Internet culture and Internet civilization，and to analyze and observe them in the Chinese context.

The study reveals that：1. There are significant urban-rural differences in cognitive attitudes and behaviors toward the Internet. More rural minors have experienced online safety problems. 2. Minors use the Internet for the first time at a much younger age. The utilization ratio of mobile terminals is very high，and there are risks of excessive entertainment and Internet addiction. 3. Video applications are the most popular among left-behind children，and they generally use online top-ups. 4. There is a trend of lowering the age of exposure to computer programming among the youth population. 5. Minors spend too much time learning online，and some educational platforms have poor quality. 6. Minors’ participation in online communities has the following characteristics：niche，personalization，diversity，and clustering by people or things. The problems include entertainment，forming circles，group polarization，irrational consumption，and so forth. 7. The Internet has made socialization easier for adolescents，but it has also led to the proliferation of advertisements，and less physical fitness，etc. 8. The overall low level of Internet literacy is due to personal，family，and school factors. 9. Cyberbully，underage celebrities，and short-video addiction still exist.

The main recommendations of this book are：1. The governance model should shift from the traditional control mode to coordination among many parties，emphasizing the responsibilities of all and collaborated innovation. 2. Governance of educational platforms and to courses should be strengthened. 3. Restriction and empowerment should have equal emphasis to enhance the educational function of short video platforms and to improve internet literacy. Software’s children-only mode should be improved，too. 4. For minors’ online community participation，we should establish a policy synergy mechanism，where platforms can fulfill their management responsibilities. 5. To enhance minors’ internet literacy，we need to combine the strengths of all social sectors and develop action plans，build educational ecosystems，and improve relevant laws and regulations. 6. For phenomena such as personal information leaks，Internet dependence，digital divide，and underage online celebrities，we need to emphasize the responsibility of multiple social actors and switch from the traditional control model to a model with multi-party coordination.