Roy Carlton

Topics of censorship involving the different media have always drawn lively responses from people when asked about them. The media categories of television, printing and recordings now include the Internet. I conducted a survey of people to find out their opnion on the new medium. I asked people, "Do you think that there should be censorship on the Internet?".

I conducted this survey during the week of February 14, 1997. I particularly chose this question because of these reasons: the recent news stories of children being lured into harm after being contacted via Internet; the reports of the availability of pornography; the recent cases tried on the bases of obscenity laws; the forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Internet censorship; my own awareness of what is available on the Internet; the fast-pace growth and presence of the Internet, and the controversy of censorship on other mediums.

Before conducting the survey, I predicted that Internet users would answer no to censorship on the Internet in overwhelming numbers. So, I would have to ask if the person used the Internet. I also predicted that my question would be perceived as important only to Internet users-- that I would have to convince someone that does not use the Internet to answer my survey. I even thought that I might conduct some of the survey on the Internet. I would find out later that there were plenty of Internet users in my survey without conducting it online. I also predicted that younger participants would say no to censorship on the Internet.

I predicted that the older the person was, the more likely that they would support censorship on the Internet. I believe this because of my own experiences. I still think of myself as young and still think that censorship comes with age-- possibly from raising families. So, the question of age was asked. By combining the age question and the Internet use question, I predicted an even heavier response of no to censorship on the Internet.

The Internet use and age questions were included with the other common demographic questions of sex, marital status, and ethnic grouping. I did not predict that there would be a noticeable difference in ethnic grouping. If sex or marital status had an effect on this survey, It would be a learning experience for me.

Thirty people would be the population of this survey. Before conducting the survey, I thought that I would have a problem finding more than just friends and the people I work with to answer the survey. To overcome that, my system for finding people for the survey was enhanced by surveying people in places that I encountered every day. I encountered and surveyed people at an instructional center and school where I work. I used the dry cleaner employees while I was dropping off my laundry. I used the personnel from the movie theater (they were my youngest respondents). I used my college classmates from my Tuesday night class. This category of peers was also my biggest population of Internet users. I had someone else ask six people from where he worked.

When approaching the person being surveyed, I asked them if they would answer a question for my college class survey. No one in any my attempts turned me down. Next I said, "reply with YES, NO, MAYBE, or I DON'T KNOW..Do you think that there should be censorship on the Internet?". It is important to note that while some individuals were replying they did not at first answer the question. If they wanted to explain why they were responding that way, I would just let them talk until they said their answer-- and did they ever want to talk. Some individuals turned to the person next to them and explained to that person why they felt as they did. An example of this was when one person said, "Oh, I'm for censorship on the Internet because of all the smut that kids can download these days." The replies that I received could have been the answers to "why do you think there should or should not be censorship on the Internet?". My simple survey tool persevered and I was able to record only the survey data as it was asked.

There were fifteen yes's to "censorship on the on the Internet". There were twelve no's and there were three maybe's. There were no I don't know's. I used my computer to total this and the other information gathered. I was able to enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet. This computer program performed some on-the-fly sub-totals and averages on the different fields or columns of results. I had the totals I needed from the computer-- now I would have to find the trends.

The survey said that twenty-one people had used the Internet. The question did not ask how often or whether the user was a novice-- just did they use the Internet? This left nine that did not. The twenty-one people using the Internet answered this way: eight yes's to censorship; eleven no's; and two maybe's. The "no to censorship" people had a majority. The nine non-users of the Internet answered: seven yes's; one no; and one maybe. The "yes to censorship" people overwhelmed the others in this category. This pattern showed that to have an opinion on Internet censorship did not mean you had to be on it.

The survey revealed that there were three people in their teens, five people in their twenties, twelve people in their thirties, nine people in their forties and one person in their fifties. No group of people in these age brackets had a clear majority. For example, the three teens each casted a vote for yes, no and maybe. The twenties had three yes's to censorship and two no's. The forties category had the same murky responses with five yes's and five no's. Combining the age category to the Internet user category would not show a big trend either. This was validated by comparing the average age of the non-user of the Internet-- 35.33 and the age of the user-- 33.33.

There were twenty three people with white ethnicity in the survey. They replied with: nine yes's for censorship, eleven no's, and three maybe's. There were six African Americans. They answered: five yes's, and one no. The one Hispanic person answered yes to censorship.

There were twenty females and ten males in the survey. The females answered: eleven yes's to censorship, six no's and three maybe's. The females answering yes to censorship was the largest category of yes's since discovering the yes's during the Internet non-users above. The males answered: four yes's, six no's and no maybe's.

There were eighteen people that were married at the time of the survey. Eight answered yes to censorship. Eight answered no. Two were maybe's. The twelve single (including divorced and widowed) people answered: seven for censorship, four against, and one maybe.

Because the largest majorities were seen in three categories, a mix was used. The mix was used for the Internet user category and the gender category. Even though the ethnic category revealed an 84% response to "yes to censorship", there were only six African Americans. So a mix using ethnicity will not be included. There were nine male Internet users. Their responses were: three yes's to censorship; and six no's. Only one male was not an Internet user. He voted for censorship. There were eight female non-users. Their responses were: six for censorship; one no, and one maybe. There were twelve female users: They responded pretty evenly: five yes's, five no's and two maybe's.

I discovered that a survey about censorship on the Internet is a survey of an issue and not a problem. In the results of this survey and in other controversial issues there are not unanimous results. Only a mix of two demographic components could reveal certain majorities in this survey. I felt that this was "reaching" for some kind of a conclusion. The fact is that there were fifteen yes's to censorship on the Internet. That is one half of those asked. I personally am not glad to see that figure. It also tells me that the news stories I noticed about the Internet are also reaching those surveyed. It tells me that 50% of them want some kind of censorship.

What was really discovered, came at the time of the initial survey question. The facial expressions, the time to think about it, and the question to define my meaning of censorship by the person being surveyed were the results of this survey. This was data too. I do not know if the surveyed person would like me to record that data.

I had predicted that Internet users would answer no to censorship on the Internet. Since eleven did answer no I was partially right. Because eight answered no and two maybe, I was partially wrong too. I had also predicted younger aged people would say no to censorship on the Internet. I placed this prognostication on my own experience. That was proven wrong. Age was not a factor. If there was a large population of teens in the survey, maybe the answer would be different. This could be a theme for another survey.

In conclusion, I thought the survey yielded many statistics. It was taken in four places with a mix of people that were all different. The events of surveying that are the most memorable were the events not recorded. I have learned to survey people around me for answers to important topics. I believe that the next survey I conduct will have a box for other reactions and replies I receive.