Engl. transl.: Net Children Go Mobile: the Italian report

The Net Children Go Mobile project has been co-financed by by the Better Internet for Kids (formerly Safer Internet Programme) of the European Commission to study how internet use among European children has changed European children, three years after the EU Kids Online survey by EU Kids Online (Livingstone et al., 2011, 2012; Mascheroni, 2012). In contemporary society, childhood and media, social and media ecology evolve simultaneously and co-determine each other (Livingstone, 2009). Children grow up in a media environment that is convergent (Ito et al., 2010), characterized by a increasing hybridization between online and mobile media and continuity of online and offline in the daily experience online and offline in daily experience, where online is becoming more and more ubiquitous thanks to new tools such as smartphones and tablets tablets, the presence of Wi-Fi networks and 3G and 4G technologies. 3G and 4G. These technologies represent a "mobile target mobile", characterized by the continuous appearance of new devices and new services on the market. What a given in an ever-changing scenario ever-changing scenario is that the internet and mobile media are an integral part of the daily lives of children and young people. Mobile internet technologies offer resources on a symbolic and relational level for learning, participation and creativity creativity (Goggin and Hjorth, 2014). But they also pose new challenges as well. Online activities are not in themselves beneficial or detrimental to kids, although the fallout in terms of benefits or harms of some experiences online experiences are more clearly discernible. EU Kids Online research has, however, shown that the opportunities and risks of the internet go the more, the more: that is, the more kids use the internet, the more they benefit from online opportunities and opportunities and acquire digital skills, the more they expose themselves to risks (Livingstone et al., 2011).

- The main place of internet access remains the home. 81% of Italian teenagers use internet at home every day, mostly from their room. - Teenagers access the internet from their room mainly from a laptop or a smartphone. Predictably, smartphones smartphones are the most commonly used devices for go online in other places or on the go, although they are though they are used more often at home. - Laptop and smartphone ownership increases as age increases - and from age 13 onwards the smartphone is the most owned device. At tablet ownership decreases from age 12 and up. - Gender and socioeconomic status differences in socialization to digital media digital media are minimal. In contrast, the gap between 9-10 year old children and 15-16 year old adolescents with respect to the age of first Internet use, first cell phone and first smartphone first cell phone and first smartphone, is (by about 3-4 years). - The most popular online activities are social networks, watching videos, and listening to music. - But there are significant gender and age differences. All activities measured become more common as they get older. Younger children use the internet to watch videos, listen to music, play games, and use social networks. The teens, on the other hand, use the internet for a wider variety of practices, although informative creative or participatory uses of the network are still very low. - Teens who use a smartphone to go online are much more likely to do all the activities considered. The gap between smartphone users and non-users is among 9-12 year olds, especially if we consider the practices communication practices (social networks, messaging and chat), entertainment (listening to music) and sharing sharing (posting photos or videos to share with share with others). In this age group, the kids who have a smartphone also use Internet more to do homework as well. - For the majority of teens surveyed the internet offers content that suits them: 50% agree with this statement and 30% believe it to be "very true". and 30% said it was "very true". However, for 40% of 9-10 year olds, there is no suitable content online. there is no age-appropriate content online. for their age. Children of higher socioeconomic status higher socioeconomic status are also more skeptical of of online content. - Compared to other European countries, Italian and and Belgians are the least satisfied with the content they find online, while English-speaking countries are the most satisfied. satisfied. The use of social networks is increasing among both girls and boys. girls and boys, and in all age groups except for 9-10 year olds. except for 9-10 year olds. At However, 14% of 9-10 year olds have a Facebook profile. Facebook profile. Use of Facebook use is also growing, especially among children 13 and up. - Three out of four kids keep in touch with their parents by talking on the phone at least once a day. After phone calls, the the second way to communicate with parents on a daily basis is through texting and texting (50%). Only 11% of respondents, on the other hand, communicate with their parents using social networks. - Two thirds of Italian young people believe that the statement or quite true the statement "I know more things on the internet than my parents do", but one third believe it is not true. On the contrary, the overwhelming majority of respondents (95%) believe they know more about how to use smartphones than their parents. I Italian children, therefore, have a greater greater confidence in the use of cell phones the use of the internet: in fact, the percentage of boys who do not consider themselves more capable than their parents in the use of internet is higher than the average (35% vs. 30%). - On the whole, 6% of Italian children aged 9- 16 years old have felt disturbed, uncomfortable, or bothered by some online experience in the last year. These are mostly adolescents and children of high socioeconomic status who have had problematic experiences on the internet. - 13% of Italian teens have reported being experienced some form of online or offline bullying offline, and 8% have been upset by it. The incidence of bullying is higher among girls, 9-10 year olds, and children of middle middle socioeconomic status. - Only 5% of 11-16 year olds have received sexually explicit messages in the past year. Sexting is more common among adolescents and boys are more likely to receive such messages. According to teens, the main form of active mediation of internet use adopted by their parents is to talk to them about what they do online (74%). - 68% of Italian parents adopt at least two strategies of active mediation of internet use Internet use, in line with the European average, but lower than in Ireland (71%), Portugal (74%) and the United Kingdom (72%) (see Mascheroni & Ólafsson, 2014).