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Three in ten children and teenagers have been offended online

Data were released by the TIC Kids Online Brasil 2024 survey

  • Photo by the author Agência Brasil

Published on October 23, 2024 at 5:07 pm

Child with cell phone

Child with cell phone Credit: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil

Three in ten children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 across the country (29% of the total) have faced offensive or discriminatory situations on the internet that left them upset. Furthermore, 30% of these children and adolescents have already had contact with a stranger on the internet. These are some of the risks highlighted by the TIC Kids Online Brasil 2024 survey, by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br), which was released today (23) in the capital of São Paulo.

“This proportion [de contato com pessoas desconhecidas] It’s bigger for older people [entre as crianças e adolescentes]. Older people are more diligent and are more exposed to risks on the internet. And the means in which this contact happens is mainly through social networks, through instant messaging exchanges. This reinforces the importance of mediation, use and participation of these platforms”, said today (23) Luísa Adib, coordinator of the TIC Kids Online Brasil research.

“These are important data because it is an issue that is very present in the debate today about the quality and time of screen use by children and adolescents. We brought this perception to fuel this debate and, based on this evidence, create guidelines and rules that improve the quality, enjoyment and benefits of internet use by children and adolescents”, said the research coordinator, in an interview with Agência Brasil.

Another study recently released by the Alana Institute, carried out by Datafolha, already pointed to a perception about the excessive use of the internet among children and adolescents. According to this study, 93% of those interviewed agreed that children and adolescents are becoming addicted to social networks; 92% agree that it is very difficult for children and adolescents to defend themselves against violence and content inappropriate for their age; 87% agree that showing advertisements and commercials to children and teenagers on social media encourages excessive consumption; and 86% agree that the content currently most accessed by children and teenagers is not appropriate for their age.

The Alana Institute’s work also found that nine in ten Brazilians believe that social media companies are doing less than enough to protect children and teenagers on the internet and that companies should take one of the following measures to protect children and teenagers online internet: request proof of identity from users; improve customer service and support for complaints; prohibit advertising and sales to children; put an end to automatic playback and infinite scrolling of videos, such as reels or shorts; or limit the time you use the services.

“The population realizes that companies do less than they should here in Brazil in relation to these safeguards and that there needs to be more legislation”, said Maria Mello, coordinator of the Child and Consumption program and leader of the Digital Axis at the Alana Institute. “These are surprising issues in a positive sense and indicate that society is looking at this and calling for change. But they also demonstrate the perception that a lot needs to be done, especially from a regulatory point of view”, he added.

Luisa Adib explained that to avoid excess and the risks associated with internet use, mediation is necessary. Parents, for example, can establish rules such as controlling and limiting internet usage time and also guide children and teenagers on how to use them responsibly and consciously. Luisa warns that this is not a task that is only up to parents or guardians. “We have to be careful not to place responsibility solely on the person responsible, be it fathers, mothers or educators. They are a fundamental part, we know about the positive correlation between mediation and benefit, a quality use, but they are not the only ones responsible. We have a series of contexts that also involve regulations”, he highlighted.

According to Maria Mello, the results observed in the Alana Institute research end up in dialogue with the TIC Kids study because they also demonstrated that responsibility for the use of the internet by children and adolescents cannot fall solely on their parents or guardians. “Many fathers and mothers still know very little about how to protect [seus filhos]. And this cannot be implicated, this cannot be in the families’ account. I think it is the role of companies and also the State to provide some level of awareness and skills so that this parental mediation can happen”, he reinforced.

“There needs to be a shared collective agreement, as recommended by our Federal Constitution, so that this presence takes place in a protected manner. Now, families can first seek information about what happens on the networks, which products and services are developed appropriately for this presence and about the terms of use, which will say whether that product or service is appropriate for that age. It is worth being aware of this and also seeking to understand more about algorithmic functioning, which can shape behaviors and cause children to access inappropriate content from the point of view of violence, sexual exploitation content, but also from the point of view of exploitation. commercial”, advised Maria Mello.

The TIC Kids Online Brazil 2024 study, conducted by the Regional Center for Studies for the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Ponto BR Information and Coordination Center (NIC.br), linked to the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil ( CGI.br), also pointed out that the number of children and adolescents with internet access remained somewhat stable, with a small decline in 2024 compared to last year.

According to the study, 93% of children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 across the country are internet users in Brazil, slightly lower than what the survey showed last year (95%). This access is greater in the southern region, where almost all children and adolescents (98%) declared having access to the network. The northern region has the lowest percentage of access in the country, with 85%.

This inequality also manifests itself between social classes. If among children and adolescents in classes A and B access is practically total (99%), among children in classes D and E it is around 91%. In class C, this corresponds to 93%.

In relation to those who said they had never accessed the internet, there was a drop: if last year, this public corresponded to 580 thousand people, in 2024 a total of 492,393 people revealed that they had never accessed the internet.

“Participation [sobre o uso da internet por crianças e adolescentes] remains stable. If we consider the margin of error, we are in a stable scenario. But there are disparities: around 2 million children and adolescents aged 9 to 17 are not internet users either because they have never accessed it or have not accessed it in the last 3 months”, said Luisa.

Furthermore, she added, access across devices is also not equitable. “Children from classes A and B access it on more varied devices and in more varied locations”, he said.

Internet access is generally provided at home, both by children and adolescents in classes A and B (100%) and among children in classes C (100%) and classes D and E (97%). This points to a lack of better infrastructure in schools, since access in these places is 56% (among the public in classes A and B), 56% (in class C) and only 44% (between classes D and E ).

“When children are deprived of the right to access information and communication technologies, they are also losing the opportunity to enjoy a series of other rights, education, entertainment, communication, expression. Today we already have many activities mediated by information and communication technologies, so we need to guarantee the right for all children, equally, so that they can enjoy [destes benefícios]”, said Luísa.

For the TIC Kids survey, 2,424 children and adolescents from across the country, aged between 9 and 17, and 2,424 parents or guardians were interviewed. The study was carried out between March and July this year. TIC Kids Online Brasil is a survey carried out annually since 2012 and was only not carried out in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic.

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Michelle Williams

I'm Michelle Williams, an enthusiastic author specializing in captivating entertainment content on Rwcglobally.com. With a passion for storytelling and a keen eye for the latest trends, I aim to engage readers with compelling narratives that reflect the dynamic landscape of the entertainment industry. Join me on Rwcglobally.com to explore the world of film, television, music, and more, as we uncover the stories that define contemporary culture.

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