Circuits of Cool/Digital Playground Report

I've got a more elaborate post coming up this afternoon, but in the meantime, check out this new report by MTV, Nickelodeon and Microsoft on global kids and technology. The report combines findings from a qualitative/quantitative study that included 18,000 respondents between the ages of 8-14 years and 14-24 years in 16 countries. As per the KidScreen coverage:

Perhaps the most interesting finding is that digital communication vehicles such as IM, email, social networking sites and mobile phones/texting are complementary to, not competitive with, TV. Additionally, the study is full of little info nuggets. For example, the average Chinese young person has 37 online friends he/she has never met, youth in India are most likely to see mobile phones as status symbols; and 33% of UK and US teens say they absolutely cannot live without their game consoles.

Rusak promises more extensive coverage of the report in next month's issue. Until then, here's the Viacom press release, and the MTV press release.