2.1 million young people in the UK are at risk of becoming digitally excluded, according to new research from Nominet.

The organisation’s Nominet Digital Youth Index, which surveyed 2,000 eight to 25 year olds, also found that 15 per cent of young people who have a smart phone have no access to a laptop or desktop.

The Index found that a third of young people – 32 per cent – do not have access to home broadband.

A further 16 per cent of over 18s don’t have access to a laptop or desktop computer and nearly half rely on other ways to connect to the internet instead of home broadband.
 
Almost half of young people – 48 per cent – are teaching themselves digital skills, equivalent to 6.9 million young people across the UK

32 per cent of 17-19 year olds said that the internet has a negative impact on their mental health and nearly half of young people (44 per cent) say they feel isolated.
 
“There has never been a more important time to understand the impact of digital on young people’s lives, after an unprecedented 18 months that have impacted their wellbeing, education, skills, careers, opportunities, and experiences of harms,” said Eleanor Bradley, managing director, registry and public benefit, Nominet. “But organisations supporting young people find that it can be hard to make sense of what life is really like for a young person.

“To determine whether digital inclusion is an urban or rural issue, a gender-based challenge, or driven primarily by household income, or understand the circumstances that lead to online harms amongst different demographics or minority groups, are just some of the issues faced when planning meaningful activity and interventions."   
 
Chi Onwurah, shadow minister for Digital, Science & Tech and keynote speaker at the Nominet Digital Youth Index launch said: “This index is an important tool to enabling a more inclusive future for the web, for the Internet, for social media and the impact it has on our lives. In 2021, we are all digital citizens.

"Unfortunately, rather than feeling empowered by the potential of technology, too many still see it as an erosion of their rights and wellbeing, or a threat to their safety. The (Nominet) Digital Youth Index provides an excellent insight into how young people are interacting with data and digital. I promise the young people that contributed to it that I will be taking its findings very seriously to develop our policies and to hold this government to account.”

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