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Young Poles and Their Attitude to Modern Technologies There are approximately 1.5 million youngest Internet users (aged 7‑14) in Poland (June 2007). The percentage of boys in this group is larger (53%). Approximately 50% of the children use the Internet at least once a day or several times a week to search for educational materials, to participate in online communities, which have become very popular, or for entertainment like computer games or music. A survey conducted in 2004 showed that over 66% of children aged 7‑14 used mobile phones. This percentage is growing every year. Prepaid services are especially popular with the youngest users, who often top up their credits with their allowance. In order to economise, young people mostly use their mobile phones for texting, but they also talk a lot as the competing operators offer more affordable tariffs. In 2006, the audio-video file sharing website market grew rapidly. Between January and August 2006, the number of users of such services increased by 150%, to 4.97 million. Every other user of those services is up to 24 years old. Also every other respondent (53%) visits YouTube, and 42%-the Smog.pl website. Young Poles like to surf the Internet and share music or image files. A large number of Polish teenagers use MP3 and MP4 players, an increasing number of them listen to audiobooks, watch movies and browse images. A survey conducted by the Interactive Institute of Market Research (IIBR) shows that 60% of young Poles had heard about the new, popular multimedia iPhone handset already in May, while the device became available only at the end of 2007. The abovementioned trend reflects a very positive attitude of young people to new technologies. Poles also buy music online more frequently. It is estimated that in 2010, 20% of music resources in Poland will be bought that way. In 2007, five online music shops were operating: iplay.pl, m3.pl, soho.pl, OnetPlayer and melo.pl. Poles download multimedia to their mobile phones more frequently, too. In 2007, 7 to 9 million downloads were registered monthly. The largest group of users downloading multimedia were people aged 20-30, who made up 41% of all the customers. Both men and women were equally interested in multimedia, although the number of men was slightly larger (52%). Interestingly, the largest number of files were downloaded in localities with a population below 100 thousand (60%) and by people with secondary education (63%). Advanced video applications, games, music and utilities were downloaded more often, while simple services, like monophonic ringtone and graphic downloads, became less popular.
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