Teen Boys Are ‘Twice More Likely’ Than Girls to Own and Use a Smartphone in Rural India: ASER

Just around half of all young people in rural India between the ages of 14 and 18 who use social media are aware of the online safety settings. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) poll, which was issued on Wednesday, boys are “more than twice as likely” as girls to possess and use a smartphone. They are also more used to these settings.

ASER study 2023, which mapped rural youth’s digital awareness and abilities across states, found that over 90% of kids have smartphones at home and are proficient with using them. Males (43.7%) are more than twice as likely as females (19.8%) to possess a smartphone among those who can use one.

Young people in rural India between the ages of 14 and 18 are the subject of the “Beyond Basics” study, which was produced by the nonprofit Pratham Foundation with an emphasis on school education. This age group was last the subject of attention in 2017. The poll, which included 28 districts in 26 states, had 34,745 children in the 14–18 age range in total. Every major state had one rural district examined, except for Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which had two rural districts surveyed each.

The study said that “females are less likely than males to know how to use a smartphone or computer.”

Roughly 90% of the households in the poll own smartphones. According to the data, 89.8% of the young people polled could use a smartphone, compared to 94.7% of men.

Less than half (43.7%) of the guys who were proficient with cell phones also possessed one. Merely 19.8% of female respondents who were proficient in using a smartphone were also owners. This demonstrates the blatant disparity in smartphone ownership starting at age 14. Certain talents are impacted by the gender-based disparity in device ownership, according to the survey.

According to the survey, just a small percentage of these young people possess computers, even though 92% of them own cell phones. Additionally, 20% of men and 9% of women have sent an email, compared to 51% of men and 30% of women having an email account.

Just 9% of young people own a computer. Fifty-five percent of them are able to use it. According to the study data, 34% of the 91% of respondents who do not own a computer are able to utilize it.

Nearly everyone has access to and is proficient at using a smartphone. However, use varies greatly depending on the goal. The majority of youth do not know anything about internet safety. About half of smartphone users use them for educational purposes, while the majority use them for enjoyment. The poll found that few people had utilized internet services.

Additionally, it said that only around half of all young people who utilized social media were aware of the online safety settings that were mentioned in the poll. Compared to women, men are more likely to be aware of these settings.

52% of respondents who used social media during the survey week were able to report or ban a profile, 48% were able to make a profile private, and 52% were able to reset their password.

In addition, the study showed that 67.1% of young people in all districts were able to use a smartphone to do digital activities at the time of the survey. Of these, 62% of the ladies and 73% of the men could bring a smartphone. More teenagers, ages 17 to 18, could bring cellphones.

Approximately 80% of young people who were able to carry a smartphone were able to discover a certain video on YouTube, and of those, nearly 90% were able to share it with a friend. About two-thirds of young people can set an alarm at a specified time, and 70% of them can use the Internet to look for answers to questions. A little more than one-third can calculate the time required to go from one place to another using Google Maps.

The study found that guys do better than girls on all digital tasks. With more education comes improved performance in digital activities. Gaining skills in basic reading boosts one’s capacity to do digital activities.