Logged-on Kids Internet and mobile phone use by pre-adolescents is becoming increasingly widespread in Italy. 86% use the Net and 95% have a mobile phone, chiefly in order to be in touch with friends and to make new ones. But 25% admit to having found themselves in dangerous situations.

The Internet and mobile phones have become very much a part of pre-adolescent Italians’ lives, used to keep in touch with friends at all times, to share feelings and experiences, and gain popularity.

The prevailing view is that these media are useful, easy to manage and not particularly risky, despite the fact youngsters have admitted encountering offensive and provocative conduct – such as pretending to be someone else (52%), using other people’s photos (46%), searching for pornographic materials (35%) – or being exposed to risky situations, such as invitations from strangers (41%) or chatting with adults (32%). All of which takes place in the near absence of any parental control.

Several principal conclusions have emerged from a study, “Logged-on Kids: Pre-adolescent Italians and new media,”[1] carried out by Save the Children and CREMIT – Research Centre for Media Education, Information and Technology, established by Milan’s Sacred Heart Catholic University. An investigation of the significance and functions attributed by Italian youngsters aged 11-14 to the Internet and mobile phones[2], it documents, in particular, how this demographic group uses them, why they choose to use these forms of media, to what extent they consider them to be dangerous, and what, in their opinion, would constitute potentially dangerous modes of behaviour.

Mobile phones: a way of communicating and of keeping memories

Mobile phone use has now also become extremely widespread among pre-adolescents, as the Save the Children-Cremit study reveals: 95% of those interviewed use them. “This represents a rather high percentage considering just how young those surveyed are”, noted Valerio Neri, Director-General of Save the Children Italia. “It is precisely within this age group that an exponential increase in mobile phone use has been seen in recent years.”[3]

As for how youngsters are making use of them, at the forefront we find text messaging (92%), followed by games (76%), exchanging images (74%), video clips (68%), photos (54%), and surfing (33%). In cases where films and photos are being made or taken, 76% film and take photos to record an event, and 73% in order to be able to share photos/videos with friends.

According to Valerio Neri “the mobile phone replaces the digital camera and becomes a means of capturing particular events that are entertaining or unusual…youngsters are ascribing an increasing importance and relevance to the mobile’s function as a means of preserving memories.”

Whereas use of mobiles for internet surfing appears to involve a minority of those surveyed: 16% often or sometimes use their mobile phones to surf and do so mostly when they prefer not to be limited by the fixed nature of a PC, to be online when and wherever they wish, or because they do not have access to the Internet at home.

Internet: social networks and blogs are on the increase, both for keeping in touch with old and new friends as well as to assert one’s own identity

According to research conducted by “Logged-on Kids”, 86% of those interviewed surf and use the Internet. Generally, in response to the question of what they use the Internet for, at the top of list they put search engines (81%), followed by videos and music (70%), msn (59%), chat rooms (53%), uploads (49%), e-mail (47%), video games (33%), forums, blogs and social networks (28%), Skype (16%), purchases and products (15%), surveys and competitions (11%).

Furthermore, 38% of those surveyed claimed to have a personal profile posted on a social network. Among the social networking programmes used, MSN Messenger is the most frequently used one, followed by Habbo, Netlog, Chatta.it and Badoo.

Blogs also appear to be widespread and on the increase: 32% of the youngsters had one.[4]

“Youngsters’ growing preference for social networking has made the Internet more of a space for socializing”, notes Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Professor of IT training and education, Catholic University of Milan, and Director of Cremit. “These places are regularly frequented by youngsters, and are essential to keeping in contact with peers and friends, to meeting new ones, expressing one’s self.”

And, in fact, 74% of those interviewed claim to use social networks in order to stay in touch with their usual friends, and 50% to widen the scope of their acquaintances.

Rivoltella goes on to state that it is “very important to recognize that the Web has become an extension of the regular network of friendships and not an alternative world substituting physical relationships. In short, friends made online are just as important as those made in person, and are even often one and the same”.

Moreover, it is through the Internet that young people assert themselves and express their true personalities. It is not surprising that the pre-adolescents surveyed very often have personal photos (40%), photos taken together with friends (24%) and photos of celebrities with whom they identify (23,%). The use of personal images is a way of making one’s self known and above all of finding friends with similar interests (50%), to express one’s own interests (45%), and only secondly to attract attention (16%) or provoke (3.6%).

The Web according to youngsters: more useful than risky... but they do admit some risks are involved

From a youngster’s point of view, the Internet is undoubtedly a very useful tool (not at all useless according to 58% of those surveyed) and easy to use (not at all difficult according to 37%), whereas in terms of its potential dangers, very few see it as very dangerous (6%), while for a significant number it is considered quite dangerous (33%). When asked whether, at home, parents impose limits or bans on their internet use, 68% claim are never prohibited from using search engines, instant messaging programmes (57%) or chat rooms (51%).

“These replies indicate the emergence of a sort of normalization of internet usage, perceived by both many youths and parents as a familiar and everyday aspect of life, manageable and not particularly risky”, says Pier Cesare Rivoltella.

Yet, when it came to questions about probable risks taken by peers or their own offensive or dangerous online behaviour, 52% of those interviewed claimed that their peers pretend to be someone else, 51% make things up, 46% post unauthorized photos, 41% get invitations from strangers, 35% search for pornographic material, and 34% chat with adults.

When asked whether they themselves had been in one of these situations, 25% of those surveyed said yes. For the most part, these also declared they had not spoken about it with anyone or, at best, with their friends, while cases in which they decided to confide in their siblings or directly in their parents were very rare (the percentages range between 2% and 5% of the youngsters surveyed).

“Youngsters are obviously not that unaware and do realise that certain types of online behaviour can be risky or provocative,” notes Valerio Neri, Director-General of Save the Children Italia. “If it is in fact true that potentially abusive adults can be surfing the Net, we need to be aware that in many cases youngsters themselves are also using these media in ways and for purposes that are inappropriate. “The challenge facing adults, parents and teachers” says Valerio Neri, “is that of reacting to these specific types of behaviour, supplying the youths with the abilities needed to respond to online solicitations in an independent and safe way”.

Parents should be the first and foremost persons to speak with their youngsters. But young people tend not confide in anyone or only in their friends. It’s therefore essential to tackle the issues from an “equal footing”, interacting directly with them, through awareness-raising campaigns and activities promoting responsible use of new media, especially in schools.