Chinese Children’s Belief of Information on Homework, News and Social Media Related Websites/apps

Abstract

As part of a questionnaire about Chinese children’s media use, Chinese children’s beliefs about information on websites and apps for homework, for news and for social media was analysed. In 2018, 404 children aged 5 to 14 years from Shandong Province completed a questionnaire for their school homework. The majority of children tended not to trust online information on these three types of websites/apps. There was an age-related decrease in children’s trust in these websites/apps. A comparison with British children’s beliefs about the online information on these three types of websites/apps, showed that there was also an age-related decrease in trusting these three types of web site. Trusting is related to the ability to critically assess such web sites which, in turn, is related to children’s cognitive development. The latter should be considered when designing online systems to protect children.