Lego survey: children prefer being a Youtuber to being an astronaut or explorer
As an international survey by the LEGO Group shows, the astronaut profession is fading in the minds of children. The first step of a man on the moon on July 21, 1969, provided a true space fascination. In 2019, such dream jobs seem to have had their day.
The Lego survey1 shows that children are still very interested in space: 3,000 children from three countries generally show great interest (86 percent); however, young people from the USA and the UK in particular would rather become YouTubers (29 percent) than astronauts (11 percent). In China, however, 55 percent of the children surveyed dream of flying into space as astronauts.
Space research generally important
The LEGO Group's survey also shows that only a quarter of all children questioned know which results of space research flow into inventions in everyday life. Whether weather forecasts via satellite, sports shoes or the development of 3D printers - a quarter of the children surveyed (25 percent) are hardly aware today of how much they benefit from space technologies in everyday life. Eight- to twelve-year-olds are looking less and less up at the stars, and more and more down at the display of their smartphones.
Regardless of the fact that the development of the smartphone was also only made possible by space research.
Life on another planet
In general, space continues to hold a great fascination for children. 86 percent of those surveyed are interested in space travel, according to the LEGO Group's survey results. Three quarters of children believe that humans will one day live in space or on Mars, and dream of flying into space themselves. And interest in space travel continues to grow: almost all children (90 percent) would like to learn more about space and space research; 71 percent already find out about it on their own, for example on the Internet.
Novel career as a space botanist?
Former NASA astronaut Michael Massimino from the USA reported that many space greats have already discovered their passion for space by playing with LEGO bricks. However, not all children know that not only the profession of astronaut is relevant for space travel. While slightly more than half of the respondents (54 percent) can assign engineers and programmers to space research, just 7 percent of the children correctly estimate that this also includes gardeners or farmers, for example.
So whether green thumb or digital thumb, a career in space exploration is as diverse as the world of YouTube stars.
By the way ...
- In 2003, photos of two LEGO space minifigures (Sandy Moondust and Biff Starling) were aboard NASA Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
- In 2011, three specially designed aluminum LEGO minifigures were passengers on "Juno," a NASA spacecraft exploring Jupiter from a polar orbit.
1In April 2019, 3,000 children aged eight to twelve took part in the international Harris Poll online survey commissioned by the LEGO Group. The aim of the survey was to find out how much importance children attach to space travel and how they imagine it developing in the future. The survey participants consisted of 1,000 children each from China, the USA and the UK.
