Austria celebrates Safer Internet Day 2018

Safer Internet Day (SID) was celebrated on Tuesday, 6 February 2018 right across the globe. With a theme of "Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you", the day called upon all stakeholders to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially for children and young people. Find out how the Austrian Safer Internet Centre (SIC) marked the day.

Date 2018-03-06 Author Austrian Safer Internet Centre
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On the occasion of Safer Internet Day 2018, Saferinternet.at presented the results of its recent study on the topic of "Digital media use by children from primary school– perspectives from children and their parents". The challenges for families are great; therefore, parents are often insecure, worried and overburdened.

In Austria, children in primary school use smartphones daily; not only do they extensively use their parents' devices, but more than half of nine-year-old children have their own device. The recent study by Saferinternet.at and the Internet Service Providers Austria (ISPA), carried out by the Institute for Sociology of the University of Vienna, explored what children do, what annoys them and what worries their parents, as well as how they react to these new challenges. The qualitative study interviewed 12 children aged 6 to 9 and their parents on their usage of digital media.

The results show that technical literacy is common among children, but they have difficulties related to recognising in-app purchases, judging content online and identifying product placement. The spectrum of approaches to these challenges within families varies from doing nothing to cooperative approaches, but also involves parents who monitor and control the digital media usage of their children. Parents are on the one hand worried about a range of topics, but also children show their annoyance related to the habits their parents have with digital media.

The Saferinternet.at study generated a lot of public interest. It was announced by a press release and presented at a press conference in Vienna. Extensive media coverage followed in local and national media (TV, radio, print and online), while interviews with the Saferinternet.at team were shown on national TV and popular radio stations. In total, SID-related interviews took place 33 times on radio and 18 times on TV. Additionally, all relevant Austrian print and online media reported about SID, with approximately 250 media clippings recorded by the Saferinternet.at team.

See the Austrian Safer Internet Day profile page for further information.

Find out more about the work of the Austrian Safer Internet Centre (SIC), including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services.

Infographic credits: Saferinternet.at

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