Engl. transl.: Online experiences of children in Bulgaria: risks and safety

A nationally representative survey from 2016, conducted by the Applied Research and Communications Foundation, in cooperation with the Market Links Agency, revealed that almost all Bulgarian children (97%), aged between 9 and 17 years old use the internet. The results of the survey, when compared with those of the previous survey from 2010, outline four important topics that deserve more attention from experts involved in providing a safer and more positive Internet environment for children, and also on the part of teachers and other educators, policy makers, new technology businesses and, last but not least, children and their parents. The fact that 97% of Bulgarian children aged 9-17 are active Internet users by 2016 shows a significant increase compared to the previous survey. More than half are online virtually every day. In addition, the age at which children enter the digital environment is steadily declining. In 2016, a quarter of all children became Internet users when they were only 7 years old, and 10% of the children in the study took their digital device at the age of 4 or 5. The proportion of children who report being anxious, upset or frightened by something they have seen on the internet in the last year has increased, and the use of social networks is the second most popular activity - children who do not have an account in at least one social network are a minority (13%); at the same time, every third child sets their profiles as public (visible to everyone). Equally, one-third of the children had contact and interacted with someone they had never met live. The proportion of children who have been victims of cyber bullying has risen from 20% to almost 30% in the last six years.

The results of the 2016 survey, and especially their comparison with those of the previous 2010 survey, outline four important topics that deserve more attention from experts involved in providing a safer and more positive Internet environment for children, and also on the part of teachers and other educators, policy makers, new technology businesses and, last but not least, children and their parents. The survey reveals that 97% of Bulgarian children aged 9-17 are active Internet users - a significant increase compared to the previous survey. More than half are online virtually every day. In addition, the age at which children enter the digital environment is steadily declining. In 2016, a quarter of all children became Internet users when they were only 7 years old, and 10% of the children in the study took their digital device at the age of 4 or 5. The proportion of children who report being anxious, upset or frightened by something they have seen on the internet in the last year has increased, and the use of social networks is the second most popular activity - children who do not have an account in at least one social network are a minority (13%); at the same time, every third child sets their profiles as public (visible to everyone). Equally, one-third of the children had contact and interacted with someone they had never met live. The proportion of children who have been victims of cyber bullying has risen from 20% to almost 30% in the last six years.