July 17, 2020 Announcement of Issuance of FY2019 Internet Literacy Indicator for Students

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) announces that it has released a report entitled FY2019 Internet Literacy Assessment Indicator for Students (ILAS), which outlines the results of a fact-finding survey that the MIC conducted on the Internet literacy of youths.

1. Background and content

As a prerequisite for improving the Internet literacy of youths, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) developed a survey in 2011 as a test (see note) to visualize the Internet literacy of youths and current situation to deal with dangers and threats on the Internet. Since 2012, MIC has been conducting the test every year on high school first-year students for the assessment of the Internet literacy of youths effectively, along with a questionnaire about the usage situation of information and communications technology (ICT), including the Internet.

In fiscal 2019, MIC conducted a test along with a questionnaire survey on 7,252 students of 57 schools.

• *
  Internet Literacy Assessment indicator for Students (ILAS):
  Each user’s abilities required to maintain Internet literacy and appropriately judge information with consideration of morals and the danger or threat on the Internet were classified into three major categories and seven middle categories, and multiple-choice questions were prepared for each ability. Then the respective abilities were visualized by quantifying them.

Risk-dealing skills necessary for youths

1. Ability to deal appropriately with illegal and harmful contents on the Internet
[Ability to cope with the risk of illegal, harmful information]

• 1.
  To understand the problem of illegal content and deal with it appropriately. [Illegal information risk]
• 2.
  To understand the problem of harmful content and deal with it appropriately. [Risk of harmful information]

2. Ability to communicate appropriately on the Internet
[Ability to cope with the risk of improper use]

• 1.
  To be able to read information and communicate appropriately. [Risk of inappropriate contact]
• 2.
  To understand and be able to deal with e-commerce issues properly. [Risk of improper trading]
• 3.
  To be able to use the Internet with consideration of the usage fees and time spent. [Risk of inappropriate use]

3. Ability to protect privacy and take appropriate security measures
[ Ability to deal with privacy and security risks]

• 1.
  To be able to use the Internet with privacy protection. [Risk of privacy]
• 2.
  To be able to use the Internet by taking appropriate security measures. [Risk of security]

2. Survey result points

• The overall correct answer rate in the above test was 68.7%. It was almost the same as the average for the past four years (68.8%). Compared with four years ago by item, the percentage of correct answers for security risk increased relatively. On the other hand, the percentage of correct answers for the risk of improper use and the risk of harmful information was relatively declining.
  Risk of security (ID, password, antivirus, etc.): 65.3% (2015) → 66.8% (2019)
  Risk of inappropriate use (overconsumption, dependence, texting while walking, manners, etc.): 82.4% (FY2015) → 78.9% (FY2019)
  Risk of harmful information (improper posting, inundation with comments, browsing restrictions, etc.): 68.2% (FY2015) → 66.0% (FY2019)
• The rate of high school students possessing smartphones was 97.5%. Furthermore, 92.5% of the high school students surveyed cited smartphones as the most frequently used devices connecting to the Internet.
• The rate of youths (25.1%) using smartphones for two to three hours on average per weekday was the highest among all respondents. Youths’ usage time of smartphones was longer than their average usage time of other devices. Furthermore, about 80% of the respondents answered that the average usage time of smartphones per weekday was two hours or more. Compared with the rate of approximately 70% (69.2% to be precise) recorded last year (FY2018), the ratio of long-term use increased. From the overall correct answer rate of the test, the usage time of smartphones per day on weekdays was analyzed per time slot. The rate of youths using smartphones for less than one hour was the highest, and the longer the usage time was, the more the correct answer rate tended to decrease.
• The questionnaire revealed that 74.7% of the high school students surveyed were aware of the meaning of filtering to some extent. Of these, 45.2% of them were using filtering. On the other hand, 18.8% of the high school students surveyed did not know much about filtering, and their filtering usage rate was 20.1%.
  => [Consideration] The awareness of filtering increased from 69.2% in the previous year to 74.7%, which was an increase of approximately 5.5%. Behind this, there existed a report entitled Issues and Measures to Promote Youths’ Use of Filtering, which was compiled in August 2019 by MIC’s Taskforce on Safe and Secure Internet Use Environment for Youth. It is possible to infer that efforts, including the awareness-raising of related parties, contributed to improvements in the respondents’ awareness of filtering, and considered essential to continue raising the awareness of filtering services to promote the use of filtering further.
• According to the questionnaire, 74.7% of the high school students surveyed perceived filtering as a device restricting the browsing of harmful websites and applications and enabled safe Internet use. The survey revealed that filtering was used by 45.6% of these high school students who had a positive image of filtering. On the other hand, 10.2% of the high school students surveyed negatively perceived filtering as an obstacle to making websites or applications they wanted to use unavailable. However, 33.6% of these high school students, who viewed filtering negatively, still used filtering. Furthermore, 15.1% of the high school students surveyed did not have either a positive or negative image of filtering, whose filtering utilization rate was 18.1%.
  => [Consideration] For promoting the use of filtering, it is considered essential to disseminate accurate information on the usefulness and functions of filtering (including the website/app customization function).
• Regarding parental control functions (usage time restrictions, usage status confirmation, content browsing restrictions, etc.), 60.6% of high school students answered that they did not know the functions very well. According to the questionnaire, 32.2% of high school students surveyed took the functions useful for preventing the excessive use of smartphones. On the other hand, 7.1% of high school students surveyed negatively perceived the functions as obstacles, which allowed their parents to manage and limit the students’ usage time.
  => [Consideration] Regarding the parental control function, 60.6% of high school students answered that they did not know them well. Therefore, it is considered essential to raising awareness.
• High school students who had filtering rules at home and school about SNS usage had a higher filtering usage rate than those who did not have rules.
  • Filtering usage rate of high school students with rules at home: 53.7%
  • Filtering usage rate of high school students with no rules at home：30.5%
  • Filtering usage rate of high school students with rules：42.8%
  • Filtering usage rate of high school students without rules at school：37.6%

In particular, the filtering usage rate of high school students with rules at home (53.7%) is higher than that of high school students with the rules at school (42.8%).
=> [Consideration] For the promotion of the use of filtering, it is considered important to raise the awareness (enlightenment) of parents regarding safe use, such as making rules for using the Internet at home.

• High school students who used filtering had a higher correct answer rate (correct answer rate: 71.0%) for the entire test than those who did not use filtering (correct answer rate: 68.4%). High school students who had filtering rules at home had a higher correct answer rate (correct answer rate: 70.6%) than those who did not have filtering rules (correct answer rate: 68.0%).