Was bedeutet es heute wirklich, mit dem Internet aufzuwachsen?

Eltern, Experten, Medien und politische Entscheidungsträger – alle haben etwas dazu zu sagen, wie Kinder und Jugendliche digitale Medien nutzen. Doch in der Debatte fehlt oft etwas Wesentliches: fundierte, vergleichbare Daten darüber, was junge Menschen tatsächlich online erleben. Das Forschungsnetzwerk EU Kids Online hat die Ergebnisse einer neuen internationalen Vergleichsstudie veröffentlicht. Sie stellt die Erfahrungen und Perspektiven junger Menschen in den Mittelpunkt und zeigt eine Realität, die weitaus komplexer ist, als viele Schlagzeilen vermuten lassen. Dr. Claudia Lampert und Brian O’Neill, Mitglieder des Teams von EU Kids Online, erklären die Befunde in einem englischsprachigen Blogartikel.

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf dem Blog der London School of Economics and Political Science Media@LSE erschienen. Zum Original-Beitrag

Understanding what makes online experiences risky — and for whom — is crucial if we are to develop effective regulation and meaningful support for young people across Europe. The new EU Kids Online report, launched on 10 September, offers valuable insights that draw on the voices and experiences of 28,465 children aged 10–16 across 19 European countries. Comparing the findings with data from 2020 reveals important changes in the opportunities and challenges children face online, as well as their hopes and concerns about the digital environment. One message stands out clearly: age matters, but it is not the whole story. The report demonstrates in numerous instances that socioeconomic background is a crucial factor, influencing not only children’s access to digital media and the activities they engage in, but also their likelihood of encountering digital risks and their opportunities to participate in an increasingly digital society.

Digital communication as part of children’s everyday lives

The survey confirms a trend already evident in previous EU Kids Online surveys: digital communication is an integral part of everyday life for the vast majority of European children. Smartphones have become the definitive gateway for this purpose. Today, 87 percent of European children aged 10–16 access the internet via a mobile phone every day, a notable rise from 80 percent in 2020. Connectivity is also constant: 58 percent of children go online several times a day. This routine everyday use rises steadily with age from 27 percent among 10-year-olds to 76 percent among 15–16-year-olds.

Avoiding the narrow focus that “screen time” implies, the study captures the broader temporal reach of digital technologies into everyday routines. For example, digital use frames the school day: 52 percent use screens before school in the morning; 81 percent use digital devices after school in the afternoon; and a further 68 percent use them before bedtime. A sizeable minority of 29 percent use screens after bedtime daily or almost daily, and 18 percent do so during the night.

Digital technologies support a wide range of activities. The online environment is primarily a space for social connection, entertainment, and learning. Communicating with friends is the most frequent online activity, practised daily or almost daily by 8 in 10 (78%) children, with nearly half (49%) doing so several times each day. Entertainment uses (watching videos on social media, listening to music) are something that 7 in 10 (72%) children do every day or almost every day.  Keeping in touch with parents and caregivers is also common, with 67 percent of children doing so daily or almost daily.  Daily internet use for schoolwork is less common, practised by 38 percent of children overall, although this varies widely across European countries (76% in Belgium vs 18% in Finland).

Notably, generative AI (as observed in an earlier EU Kids Online report) has also become a standard part of children’s digital routines, with two in three (67%) European young people reporting regular use of AI. Most use is for schoolwork: 34 percent use AI to summarise or explain longer texts, and 33 percent use it to write essays or stories.

Conversely, engagement in civic, participatory and creative online activities remains low. Just 13 percent of children create or edit digital content on a regular basis; only 5 percent participate in public online discussions on issues they care about, and just 3 percent get involved in online campaigns, protests, or petitions. This adds further evidence to the “ladder of opportunities” hypothesis where basic online activities such as communication, entertainment and – in part – use of the internet for schoolwork, are undertaken by the majority of children on a daily basis, while more creative or participatory activities are undertaken less frequently and by fewer children.

Children’s vulnerability and perceived risks

The findings also highlight a growing sense of uncertainty and vulnerability online. Just under half of the children and teenagers surveyed say that they feel safe online. Girls and the youngest age groups are particularly likely to feel less secure. Here, too, it becomes evident that socioeconomic disadvantage is a significant source of inequality, affecting children’s sense of online safety, exposure to risks, and overall vulnerability.

Children report coming across a wide range of potentially harmful online content, such as gory or violent images, guides on how to become very thin, and guides on how to injure oneself or cause oneself harm (including suicide).

Hateful messages are a feature of many children’s online experiences, although the extent varies widely across countries, with monthly exposure ranging from 15 percent in Ireland to 40 percent in Serbia. On average, three in ten children say they come across hateful messages at least once a month, while 27 percent encounter them only rarely and 43 percent say they never do. In some countries, relatively high exposure is reported among younger children: for example, in Slovakia, for example, 44 percent of 10-year-olds report exposure to hateful or degrading content, along with 31 percent of 10-year-olds in Malta, 37 percent in Norway and 35 percent in Romania.

It is important to note that exposure to online risks does not necessarily result in harm. The impact of negative online experiences can vary considerably depending on children’s individual dispositions and backgrounds, their media literacy, and their ability to cope with difficult situations. Against this backdrop, the survey also reveals a notable gap in young people’s ability to navigate and cope with negative experiences online. The majority of children say that they do not know what to do when someone behaves towards them online in a way they dislike. While many children rely on friends or parents for support, others choose not to share their experiences with anyone, pointing to differences in the availability and use of support networks when facing online risks.

Children’s views and worries

Another key finding of the survey is that children and young people’s wider concerns differ from those of adults or from what adults might assume, with media-related risks taking a relatively minor place compared with other issues. Of course, children and teenagers do worry about online dangers, including the misuse of photos and videos. However, more fundamental concerns often weigh more heavily. The health or loss of family members, war, and worries about their educational and professional future seem to be far more pressing.

The most widespread digital worries relate to the impact of AI on both the present and the future. Specifically, 41 percent of respondents express some or high concern that AI-based technologies damage the environment and consume too many natural resources. Just over half of the of European children and adolescents say they do not think it is okay for companies to track their online behaviour and use this data to send them personalised adverts.

Beyond control: making room for dialogue

The findings of the study make it clear that children and young people face a wide range of challenges online, and with the rapid advancement of AI, new ones are emerging. The boundaries between offline and online, as well as between real and AI-generated content, are becoming increasingly blurred, making the challenges associated with them ever more complex. At the same time, the findings also show that other concerns in their everyday lives may weigh more heavily and cause greater distress. This highlights the important role parents can play as trusted points of contact.

However, the findings show that active parental dialogue has unexpectedly declined since the 2020 survey, with the proportion of parents who talk to their children about what they do online dropping from 66 percent to 50 percent. While more than three-quarters of children report that they can discuss upsetting things with their parents, 22 percent say they find this difficult – more often those from medium or low SES homes. At the same time, parents have increased their use of technical controls and surveillance. Tracking the apps or online content children use has doubled from 21 percent to 40 percent, and content filtering has risen from 22 percent to 38 percent.

While aspects of children’s online use can be managed through technical measures, their online experiences cannot simply be regulated away. Children and young people need opportunities to talk about, reflect on, and make sense of what they encounter online. Discussing the study’s findings with young people across Europe and exploring how well they resonate with their own experiences could be a valuable first step towards fostering an open and meaningful dialogue about their digital lives. Young people’s perspectives can help to shape effective approaches to regulation, protection, and support.

The EU Kids Online 2026 comparative study: Children’s views, experiences, opportunities and risks in a digital world is available for download here.

Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay