Latest News
September 15, 2010
September 20 is International Children’s Day: Experiencing the digital world together, without bans
The organizers of International Children’s Day, celebrated on September 20 in Germany and Austria, are urging people help children navigate the digital world by providing them with information, guidance, and reliable technology to protect our children. This year’s official motto is “Strong Children, Strong Future!”. But what does this mean for parents? How can they help their children navigate a digital world when the parents themselves aren’t entirely tech savvy? Overcoming this challenge is easier when children, parents, educators, and politicians work together. It becomes even easier yet when experts weigh in with their knowledge.
There are vast differences in the expectations of children, parents, and teachers when it comes to the digital world. On the one hand, children dislike restrictions and bans and want to be free to use their phones, tablets, and computers as they please. Yet, on the other hand, parents want to limit their children’s screen time. Complicating the matter is the expectation of teachers that their students use the internet for learning purposes only. This year’s International Children’s Day is tackling this divide by raising an awareness of it in public debate and urging people to help children when navigating the digital world, true to the motto: “Strong Children, Strong Future!”.
Preparing children for a future with AI and digital media
The experts at AV-TEST agree with this perspective and have some pertinent suggestions backed by their tests and lived experiences. Current studies show that children are starting to use smartphones and AI at younger and younger ages; however, parents often underestimate the amount of time their children spend in front of screens. What’s more, politicians and people in general are calling for greater action: Schools need to incorporate digital literary skills as a fixed element in their curricula in order to guarantee equal opportunities in a digital world.
“The latter is an issue that can only be implemented by politicians and society; yet our AV-TEST experts can definitely offer a few tips regarding the use of smartphones, computers and AI”, explains Erik Heyland, Head of Testing Labs at AV-TEST.
For example, there is an annual study that examines the screen time activities of children: the JIMplus 2026 (JIM stands for “Jugend, Information, Medien” or Youth, Information, Media). The study interviewed 800 children – half between the ages of 14 and 15, half between 16 and 17 – asking them when they received their first smartphone and when their first exposure to social media was. 50 percent of the children said they were 10 or 11 years, and 25 percent were 12 or 13 years. Only 16 percent of the children were younger than 10 years old when they first started using a smartphone. 99 percent of the children said they use YouTube, followed by nearly 50 percent saying they use TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.
Nearly half of all age groups stated that they spend 1 to 3 hours daily on these platforms. The study found that the children also consume other media and apps.
People currently still overestimate the use of AI by children. The study discovered that AI plays a lesser role in the lives of children in general, yet the children often mentioned AI in connection with schoolwork.
Your help counts! The sooner, the better
Since the interviews with the children revealed that 10-year-olds and younger are exposed to smartphones and social media, this is a good starting point for you as a parent to offer your help. You can be instrumental in directing your child toward suitable apps, discussing the pitfalls and dangers of the internet, and shielding your child from having their data be exploited. Here are some of our tips:
- Provide guidance when your children use YouTube: For example, you can let your child use the YouTube Kids app, which automatically filters the content it presents into distinct age groups.
- Help them with screen time management: Family parental control apps such as Kaspersky Safe Kids and Kids360 allow you to limit screen time, let your child earn bonus minutes in exchange for chores/tasks, and prevent exposure to unknown numbers and strangers.
- Find out more information on specific apps: Protection software weeds out the harmful apps, but the harmless ones can still trawl for data. Keep this in mind and use the services of free privacy scanner apps. These help you and your children discover which apps are collecting what data.
- Use additional protection tools: Install protection apps for mobile devices that have been tested and approved by experts, as well. The free tests of security apps for mobile Android devices show the best apps that offer additional safeguards such as scam detection for links and protection against identity theft.