Comenius Project

1. Comenius Project Teenagers and audiovisual products

2. Audiovisual appliances Though most European households are rather well-equipped with audiovisual appliances, still few of them own MP3 players, camcorders and DVD players.

3. Who pays for audiovisual appliances? In all the countries involved in the Comenius project, parents bear the purchasing cost, as the appliances are rather expensive.

4. Teenagers who do not own these products Rumanian and Hungarian teenagers own the least audiovisual products.

5. Teenagers who own 20 to 50 of these products Romanian and Hungarian teenagers buy slightly fewer audiovisual products, except for audio cassettes which seem to be quite popular with Hungarians.

6. Teenagers who own more than 50 of these products Romanian and Hungarian teenagers buy fewer audiovisual products, except for audio cassettes which seem to be quite popular with Romanians.

7. Who pays for these products ? In France, Hungary and Spain, parents mainly pay for these products, whereas in Germany and Romania, the majority of teenagers pay for what they buy.

8. Shopping places In every country, audiovisual appliances are mainly purchased in specialised shops.

9. Audiovisual goods : conclusions • Audiovisual goods are widely to be found in the 5 European countries involved in the Comenius project. • Quite understandably, the most recent products are not yet quite common with teenagers. This is the case for DVD players and mini-discs. • A great number of German teenagers pay for the products by themselves. Does it mean that they get more pocket money than teenagers in the other countries? • The majority of these products remain rather expensive for Romanians whose audiovisual expenses are inferior to what can be seen in other countries.

10. What music do teenagers listen to ? The least popular styles of music are jazz, traditional, folklore and classical music

11. Teenage girls and music In every country, girls most often listen to music on the radio, CD players being their second best source of music.

12. Teenage boys and music German teenagers mainly listen to music on CD players. This individual way of enjoying music is also to be found with Spanish boys who either use CD players or computers. But the Spaniards also enjoy listening to music in pubs.

13. Teenagers and music : conclusions • The radio, universally available, remains the preferred means to listen to music, especially for girls. • Very few teenagers listen to traditional, folklore, jazz or classical music. These styles are associated with their parents. • Conversely, the most recent styles of music, such as dance, techno, hard rock music are very much the thing nowadays, probably because these are new sounds created with new technologies (electric music…). Some other styles are coming back, such as reggae music, or even variety music which seems to be quite popular with girls. • Music has a very special place in the European teenagers’ life. There is a style of music for everyone in the great variety of styles available on the market.

14. Number of TV sets per household Nearly ¾ of Spanish households own more than 3 TV sets, whereas nearly ¾ of Romanian households own fewer than 3.

15. Teenagers with a TV set in their rooms Mostly Romanian and Hungarian teenagers have their own TV sets in their rooms.

16. Teenagers working with the TV on Mostly Hungarian, Romanian and French teenagers work with the TV on.

17. Time spent watching TV Romanians teenagers spend the most time watching TV.

18. Television : conclusions • There is a great difference between Hungarian and Romanian on the one hand, and Spanish, German and French teenagers on the other hand. • Much more Romanian and Hungarian teenagers have their own TV in their rooms. • Also, Romanians and Hungarians do their homework with the TV on in greater numbers than their European counterparts. • And again Romanians and Hungarians spend more time watching TV than Spanish, German and French teenagers. Is it for them a way to compensate for the fact that they may have less pocket money : TV programmes bring music, theatre, concerts, films to their homes ?

19. Teenage girls and computers Teenagers use computers for a different purpose in every country. The Germans spend a lot of time surfing on the Internet, whereas the Hungarians use computers mainly for video games and the French for word processing.

20. Teenage boys and computers German, Hungarian and Romanian teenagers use computers mainly for computer games. French teenagers use them for word processing and Spanish teenagers for copying CDs.

21. Time spent by girls on computers Generally speaking, girls do not spend a lot of time on computers, apart from the young Romanians.

22. Time spent by boys on computers Hungarian teenagers spend the least time on their computers.

23. Teenagers and computers : conclusions • In all the European countries involved in the project, teenage boys spend much more time on computers than teenage girls. • Young Germans, especially girls, spend a lot of time surfing on the Internet. • Video games are mostly popular in Romania and Hungary. Together with TV, computers are an important source of entertainment.