Research: It is revealed that children "surf" the internet from the age of 4

The 1/3 of the children feels that he neglects his obligations in order to "Surfs" the internet, while 20% start navigating at an early age 4-6 years.

ΕUp to ten children use social networks at an unacceptable age and 21% say they have been harassed online, which they have tried to deal with without mentioning it to anyone.

Also, 21% of children have met someone they met on the internet, 14% have shared very personal photos on the internet, while six out of 10 children have encountered violent and inappropriate content.

The above percentages are the result of a survey conducted on a sample of 14.000 students from 400 schools in the country and conducted by the Hellenic Center for Safe Internet of the Institute of Technology and Research, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. It is characteristic that the majority of children (41%) start using the internet at the age of 7-8 years while a 20% state that they started "surfing" at a very young age of 4-6 years!

All the data were presented at a conference on "Safe and Responsible Internet Navigation", which took place this morning in the room "Melina Mercouri" in the municipality of Kalamaria and which was attended by students from 17 high schools and lyceums in Thessaloniki, while the speaker was the MEP of ND and "Ambassador for Safe Internet", Maria Spyraki.

During the day, the excessive use of the internet by children was emphasized as 34% feel that they neglect their activities for the sake of the digital world. Only 4% admit to having an internet addiction problem while 20% say they do not know if they are addicted. It also makes sense for children to admit that almost half of parents do not set limits on internet use.

"It is true that the internet has been established as a reliable and correct source of information. However, in addition to the good it brings to our lives, it also hides dangers, especially for children", Said Ms. Spyraki during her post to the students, adding that" many parents have not yet realized that they need attention, supervision and guidance for their children in matters concerning the internet. "Parents should not rest, because it is impossible to know what can happen or be said in the various ways of communication that take place within it."

More specifically, according to the results of the survey, 83% of children state that they "surf" without the supervision of their parents, while according to the answers, almost half of the parents (43%) do not set limits on their children in terms of internet use and time spent in the digital world.

The majority of children (58%) state that they learned to use the internet on their own and only 4% said that they learned it at school from a teacher. Despite the fact that they declare themselves self-taught, they consider that they know how to use the internet safely and only 12% state that they are little or not at all informed.

Children use the internet world mainly to talk to their friends (36%), watch movies or listen to music (33%), play games (24%). In addition, 58% state that they can distinguish true news from false news. 63% of children engage in social media for up to two hours a day. 13% reach 3-4 hours, while 9% spend more than 4 hours. Of course, on weekends the percentage of children who spend more than four hours on social media increases, reaching 15%.

2% deal with online games on a daily basis for up to 57 hours. 3 to 4 hours a day reaches 9% and more than four hours is employed by 7%. The percentage of children who play more than 4 hours during the weekend doubles and reaches 15%.

The communication manager of the Hellenic Center for Safe Internet, Katerina Psaroudaki, speaking on her part at the meeting, referred mainly to the "golden rules of safe internet browsing". As he said, "as the years go by the age of children entering the internet will be ever decreasing".

Also, in addition to the speeches, the students of the 17 secondary schools of Thessaloniki, presented the work they did for safe navigation and awards followed. The representatives of the awarded schools will go to Brussels where Ms. Spiraki will guide them to the European Parliament. It is noted that this period "runs" new research, this time in 600 schools throughout Greece, again under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.

The topic is "Social networks and online games". Students will answer questionnaires by the end of the year and the results will be presented at a special event in Athens in February 2020.

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