The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Indian kids are increasingly becoming technologically savvy'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 05, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Indian kids are increasingly becoming technologically savvy'

With 40 per cent of the children living in 14 cities across the country using computers, 74 per cent of them aspiring to own jazzy mobile camera phones and an overwhelming majority picking up a leading mobile phone brand as their favourite, Indian kids are increasingly becoming technologically-savvy.

The findings of Cartoon Network's "New Generations 2005" study conducted in November-December 2005, in which over 4,000 children aged between seven and 19 years in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Madurai and Lucknow were given a set of questions to answer, provide a wealth of information about children and also interesting insights into their lifestyles, habits and preferences.

The study was split according to gender and socio-economic classes. "We have been in India for the past ten years. Kids are the future consumers and they are also very knowledgeable. Though this study will be less important to us as far as making our programmes is concerned, it will definitely be useful in our retail business," said the vice-president (Research and Market Development) of Turner International Asia Pacific Limited, Duncan Morris, at a press conference here on Tuesday. However, the penetration of computers and Internet in Indian homes was less as compared with Australia, Taiwan and Philippines. But children across the country were able to access these information technology marvels at their schools and cyber cafes.

Another highlight of the study was that 87 per cent of the children aged from seven to 14 felt that too much of their time was spent studying. This feeling was the highest among kids from Madurai (98 per cent), Kolkata and Cochin (95 per cent). With a mere 67 per cent, Delhi was the lowest.

With 20 per cent of the kids voting for Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood's reigning superstar rules the roost among the kids, while accomplished actress Rani Mukerji outvoted Aishwarya Rai to emerge as the favourite actress. Sachin Tendulkar is the favourite sports person followed by Indian skipper Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly, according to the study. -- Madhur Tankha

-- Madhur Tankha

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