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ABSTRACT
In the present paper the findings of a pilot study to determine the Digital Awareness and Internet usage among the school students of age-group 14 to 19 years in Raipur city of Chhattisgarh are presented. The random sample survey method is used to collect the data from randomly selected private and government schools. The questionnaire was designed to know the use of digital gadgets by the students and also the usage of Internet by them. This study reveals that the students of selected age-group in Raipur city are digitally aware and most of them use Internet for various purposes. The pattern of their Internet surfing is also studied. This study also reveals that majority of the students of this age-group are members of Social Networking sites and/or Social Apps.
Key words: Digital awareness, Social Networking, Internet, School students
INTRODUCTION
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized every walk of life today be it communication, governance, commerce, healthcare, education, entertainment, defense, etc., to list a few. ICT is influencing the society in the same way as was done by the machines in eighteenth century, perhaps on a far greater scale. Government of India has also acknowledged the constructive role of ICT in school education and have come out with a National Policy on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in School Education which has been revised in 2013 (Ministry of Human Resource, 2012). Internet and World Wide Web are main constituent of ICT. Internet usage worldwide has arisen exponentially in recent past, as of date about 3120 million people worldwide are using Internet (Internet Live Stat, 2015). About 20% of population in India is using Internet which is about 8.5% of world Internet users (India Internet Users, 2015). The number of mobile Internet user alone was expected to reach 213 million by June 2015 as per a report on Mobile Internet users in India of 2014 (Internet and Mobile Association of India, 2014). Interestingly, the explosion in the use of Internet has become possible due to affordable, readily available devices (gadgets) like laptops, tablets and mobile phones, particularly the availability of latter to the masses in even the rural areas of the country. Since the spread of Internet is countrywide, school children too are...