- Jackie Coates - CEO, Telstra Foundation
The Australian Youth Digital Index is a benchmarking tool comprising quantitative and qualitative data on young people’s digital lives.
It provides a snapshot of young people’s digital access and inclusion, their digital skills, online safety and their related physical and mental wellbeing.
This is the first year this index has been produced in Australia. As a pilot year, we expect to finetune the survey tool using our learnings from our youth and stakeholder consultation with a view to finalise how and what we measure in 2025.
The Index encompasses five pillars covering access, connectivity, skills, safety and wellbeing.
Each pillar is like a sub-index, with its own score out of 100 that is calculated using responses to a core set of questions from the survey. These pillar scores provide a measure that can be tracked over time and used to identify priorities for improvement.
Key findings for each pillar are explored below.
Digital access
To have good digital access the young person must be able to access and use a ‘critical’ digital device (smartphone, laptop, tablet, or desktop) whenever they need to, and the device must be fit for purpose.
This pillar considers access to critical digital devices and, and explores the reasons why access is limited for some young people.
At a glance…
Australia’s young people are highly connected, with most having access to some sort of digital device.
However, the overall index score of 77 shows there are some key areas for improvement.
While most young people have access to some sort of digital device, they do not always have access to the technology they need to thrive, especially when it comes to their education. The data shows that 15% of young people aged 14 to 17 do not have access to a laptop.
There is also an urban/rural distinction. Young people from major cities scored more highly than those from regional/remote areas.
When you look at education stages, the access index shows lower digital access for those of junior school age (56) compared to high school (86) and young adults (88).
Young people in low income households face some particular access challenges. They are significantly less likely to have access to a desktop computer, and also less likely to have access to a laptop than wealthier households.
Digital Connectivity
To achieve a high index score for connectivity a young person must have a ‘good quality’ internet connection at home and, if applicable, a good quality mobile data connection. Where ‘good quality’ means the connection is fast and reliable enough to access and use the internet to complete the tasks that they want to do.
The Connectivity score measures how young people connect online (i.e. broadband or mobile data) and how much this is inhibited by limits, speed or quality of connection.
At a glance…
Connectivity was the second lowest-scoring pillar in the Australian Youth Digital Index. The overall Connectivity score for young Australians is 66.
Most young people have access to Wi-Fi at home (94%), and for 80% this is the type of internet connection they use most frequently.
But young people are paying the price of being connected on the move. Almost one million young people (16% or approximately 978,000) use mobile data as their main way to connect to the Internet – often a more costly method than home broadband.
Having a broadband or mobile connection does not guarantee a seamless experience. More than a quarter of young people (27%) said there were some things they couldn’t do online due to limits in mobile data allowance and 34% reported this was the case because of slow or no internet.
The cost-of-living crisis is having an impact on digital connectivity. One in eight (13%) had to change or cancel their internet plan due to cost of living pressures, a figure that rises to 19% in households earning less than $50,000 per year.
The impact of financial pressure on connectivity is apparent when we look at scores for this pillar across income groups, ranging from 57 for those with household income less than $50,000 to 72 for those in households with income above $150,000.
Digital Skills
The index score for digital skills is a measure of ability calculated by evaluating a young person’s ability to carry out twelve tasks, e.g., use the internet to help with schoolwork. To obtain a high score, they must find several of the tasks easy to complete.
The Skills score measures how well young people can complete digital tasks for school or work, and how they learnt digital skills.
At a glance…
The overall Skills score for young people in Australia is 69.
Having digital skills and confidence in using technology are crucial for active engagement in modern society. In education and work, these skills are essential for accessing information, collaborating on projects, and performing tasks efficiently.
Young people are showing strong skills in using the internet for schoolwork, with 78% indicating they do not need help in this area.
And they are keen to put their skills to use. More than half of young people (58%) want a job that uses advanced digital skills.
However, there is an interesting gender divide. Girls are more likely than boys to be digitally skilled (Index score 72 (girls) and 66 (boys); but are much less likely to pursue a career using advanced digital skills (47% girls; 67% boys).
Despite this difference, three quarters of survey respondents (75%) recognised digital skills would be essential for their future career.
Digital Safety
The index evaluates the awareness, understanding and abilities of young people to stay safe across several elements that contribute to digital safety, e.g., keeping personal data safe, mitigating viruses, patching software, password security, privacy settings, phishing, and identifying secure websites. It also measures the extent to which they feel safe, regardless of their knowledge and abilities, and if they have experienced anything online that has caused them harm or distress, such as discrimination, bullying, or sexual content.
The index evaluates the awareness, understanding and abilities of young people to stay safe across several elements that contribute to digital safety, e.g., keeping personal data safe, mitigating viruses, patching software, password security, privacy settings, phishing, and identifying secure websites. It also measures the extent to which they feel safe, regardless of their knowledge and abilities, and if they have experienced anything online that has caused them harm or distress, such as discrimination, bullying, or sexual content.
Digital Wellbeing
Positive digital wellbeing means the young person feels in control of what they see and do online, they are happy with the amount of time they spend on their digital devices, and overall, their use of the internet and digital devices has a positive impact on their life (relationships, school, work, physical and mental health).
The Wellbeing score covers how young people feel about different aspects of their life in general and the impact that being online has on their life.
At a glance…
The overall Wellbeing score for young Australians is 52.
Young people are spending a significant amount of time online, reflecting the role digital technology plays in their social lives, education and work, as well as the use for entertainment and completing tasks. Young people spend an average of 3.6 hours online on weekdays and 4.5 hours on weekends.
Many young people highlighted positive aspects of their experience online, including 67% saying it helped them keep in touch with people and 61% saying social media has been a positive experience.
They also understand the negatives of time online. Nearly two in five young people – equivalent to nearly 2.4 million individuals – said being online negatively affected the sleep they got.
The Wellbeing score is higher for young people living in major cities in Australia (53) compared to those living in regional/remote areas (50).
Comparing Index Scores across the pillars
There is scope for improvement across all five pillars, as shown in the table below.
But the scores are simply a number – it is the data behind each number and the insights into young people’s attitudes and perceptions that will help shape policy and inform programs, supporting young people to thrive in an increasingly digital world.
Interested to dig a bit deeper? Use our Australian Youth Digital Index dashboard to explore what young people think about growing up online in 2024.
