Report: Czech children and adolescents on the internet: Results of the EU Kids Online V survey

Mobile phones are by far the most popular way for Czech children and teenagers to go online. Almost everyone (92%) uses a smartphone on a daily basis, whereas less than a third (31%) use a desktop computer or laptop. Children and adolescents (ages 9 to 17) primarily use devices with screens, such as phones, tablets, or computers, in the afternoon after school or in the evening before bedtime, mainly seeking entertainment. They most often chat with friends, watch videos on social media, or listen to music. They are also very aware of the risks. More than 82% of children and adolescents reported that they know how to protect their devices, while approximately 61% know how to store data on cloud servers. At the same time, children and adolescents have a cautiously optimistic attitude toward digital technologies. These findings come from a recent study by researchers at IRTIS, the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University.

Children use devices with screens at school during breaks, but the frequency is significantly lower, dropping to 40.6%; during class time itself, a full quarter of adolescents use them every day. “Girls use the internet more often than boys to complete school assignments and search for health information. Online gaming is the domain of the male population in this regard,” said one of the study’s authors, Hong Nhung Nguyenova from IRTIS at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University. Although children and adolescents primarily use the internet for entertainment, one-third use it daily to complete school assignments. The scope of all internet activities then increases significantly with age.

Digital Literacy

Digital literacy is an important aspect that children and adolescents are highly aware of. Approximately 77% of them rated their communication skills positively, and 51.4% are very confident about what is appropriate to share online. Approximately 45.7% of children and adolescents considered themselves capable of verifying information on the internet, and 49.2% claimed they can recognise trustworthy websites.

However, the situation is different when it comes to digital knowledge regarding algorithms and online visibility. “Here, uncertainty is evident, as 40.0% of adolescents were unsure whether the first search result is necessarily the best source of information, and 45.3% were unsure whether the first social media post they see is actually the most recent post from their contact,” said study co-author Marie Jaron Bedrosova from IRTIS. Other figures also confirm this uncertainty. While approximately 62% of young people had a positive opinion of their ability to edit digital content, only 31.1% were confident that they knew how to ensure that they themselves and the content they post online were visible to others. Overall, the research shows that digital literacy increases with age in almost all areas, and gender differences are minimal. Boys tended to rate their technical and informational digital skills higher, while girls mentioned stronger communication skills in particular.

Experiences with Online Risks

A positive finding is that two-thirds of children and adolescents rarely or never encounter inappropriate behaviour or disturbing content online. However, 11.5% of children have such negative experiences online at least once a week. The most common sources of support after such a disturbing experience were friends (57.2%), parents or caregivers (30.3%), or siblings (18.5%). Only one-fifth of children did not talk to anyone about this negative experience.

Most children and adolescents have also encountered at least some form of potentially harmful content online, such as conspiracy theories, content promoting extreme thinness, or adult pornography. Nearly two-thirds (66.6%) have encountered hateful content on the internet at least once. Children mostly come across harmful content unintentionally.

Aggressive Behaviour Online and Offline

The researchers were also interested in aggressive behaviour and the experiences children have with it, both online and offline. Nearly half of children and adolescents (41.9%) experienced at least one form of aggression from others in the past year, whether online or in person. Experiences with face-to-face aggression (30.5%) were more common than those with online attacks (21.6%), even though the latter are also painful. Girls subsequently have significantly stronger emotional reactions than boys.

Researchers also asked children and adolescents whether they had ever behaved aggressively toward others themselves. In this case as well, face-to-face aggressive behaviour was more common. A total of 56.0% of children and adolescents had engaged in face-to-face aggressive behaviour toward another person at least once in the past year, and 10.2% did so weekly or more often, while for aggression on the internet and via new technologies, 44.2% had done so at least sometimes, and 8.8% weekly or more often.

Digital Future and Rights

Children and adolescents have a cautiously optimistic attitude toward digital technologies. Most of them believe that new technologies will make knowledge accessible to everyone (60.7%). This is true even though, from their perspective, trust in the companies that handle their data is significantly low. Only 28.0% believe their data will be safe. “Children tend to be more concerned about immediate and specific issues, such as misinformation and privacy, and are not as worried about broader societal risks, such as the impact on the environment or the loss of human control over technology,” added Jaron Bedrosova.

You can read more about the EU Kids Online project in the Czech Republic here.