US teens lag behind Britain in internet use

Despite being a world leader in technology innovation, internet use among America's teenagers compares poorly to a number of other Western nations.

Only 88 per cent of US teenagers aged 12 to 14 year olds use the internet, compared to 100 per cent of British children of the same age, according to the World Internet Report by the Centre for the Digital Future.

In addition, 96 per cent of Czech Republic and Macao teens and 95 per cent of Canadian children also use the internet, surpassing their US counterparts.

For the report by the Centre for the Digital Future, researchers in 13 countries talked to more than 25,000 people in Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe in late 2007 and early 2008.

The Centre report showed the US trails other countries in older groups, too. US internet use by those over 18 runs behind Sweden, New Zealand and Canada.

The Centre report, issued annually in the US and for the first time worldwide, pointed to strong mobile internet use in the UK as one reason why teenage internet use is so high.