Colombia. A study carried out by TigoUne by the EAFIT University, called Risks and Potentialities of the use of Information and Communication Technologies in everyday life, pointed out that ICTs represent great benefits for the education and formation of communities, however they can generate negative behaviors if their use does not go hand in hand with responsible use, creative and proper mediation.
The research, which included professionals from different disciplines such as philosophers, educators, designers, engineers, communicators, sociologists, political scientists and health workers, among others, was carried out in three stages that took about 13 months.
This study was in charge of the Communication and Cultural Studies Research Group of the EAFIT University and directed by María Isabel Villa, professor of the educational institution and PhD in Communication Contents in the Digital Age.
The starting point of the study is the Risks and Potentialities against the use of the Internet and ICT, proposing within its approach: educating for the use of technology in a responsible and creative way, understanding that creativity beyond the artistic sense, and taking it to the objective of creating business opportunities, new ways of relating to others, of learning and innovation.
The results obtained in this study served to consolidate TigoUne's Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, which seeks to promote the responsible and creative use of ICT. Although the company has always had a CSR strategy, it is the first time that it is structured from a scientific study.
This reformulation of its strategy points to the most decisive themes found in this research and its audiences of interest, as marcelo Cataldo, president of the company, explains:
"TigoUne had a CSR strategy in place since 2008, which was focused on the risks of Using the Internet. This strategy managed to impact in less than 10 years more than one million people (children, young people, parents and teachers) through talks and plays. However, the phenomenon of the use of the Internet has been transformed over time and it is necessary to consolidate projects that are based on scientific studies and trends that have been addressed in the world, on the risks and also the opportunities. In the study we found that opportunities and mediation are the way to reduce risks and, therefore, our view as responsible for the service we offer should change towards this approach."
Most significant figures from the survey applied to children and adolescents
1. 64% of children and young people in Colombia sail because they "have nothing else to do."
2. 34% of young people, between the ages of 15 and 16, have personally encountered strangers they met online.
3. Children of 9 years spend an average of internet use of up to 1:46 minutes per day, while adolescents of 16 years, up to 5 hours.
4. The device they use the most is the cell phone, followed by the tablet or iPad and the Laptop.
5. The greatest use they give to the internet is to research school work, listen to or download music, use social networks and play.
