In brief: Italian findings from EU Kids Online 2020
Italian children aged 9 to 17 go online primarily from their smartphones – 84% do so daily. While the internet is an integral part of children’s daily lives, differences persist in online activities and, more significantly, in online skills. With misinformation being one of the highest concerns on the public agenda, it is striking that only 42% of Italian children reportedly find it easy to check if the information they find online is true.
The number of children who have felt bothered (upset, uncomfortable or scared) by something they experienced on the internet has more than doubled, from 6% in 2013 to 13% in 2017 (and from 3% to 13% among 9- to 10-year-olds). The most common risk is being exposed to harmful user-generated content (UGC) – 51% of 11- to 17-year-olds have been exposed to at least one form of negative UGC in the past year, including hate messages (31%). Most feel sad, angry and full of hatred for what they have seen. However, 58% of those who have seen hate speech in the past year did nothing about it. Similarly, 50% of children who have witnessed someone else being bullied on the internet reportedly did nothing about it.
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- Ponte, C., Mascheroni, G., Batista, S., Garmendia, M., Martinez, G., & Cino, D. (2023). Children’s digital mediation: The family climate in Spain, Italy and Portugal. Observatorio (OBS*), 17(2). DOI: 10.15847/obsOBS17220
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Mascheroni, G., Cino, D., Mikuška, J., & Smahel, D. (2022). Explaining inequalities in vulnerable children’s digital skills: The effect of individual and social discrimination. New Media & Society, 24(2), 437–457.
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Mikuška, J., Smahel, D., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Mascheroni, G., & Milosevic, T. (2020). Social relational factors of excessive internet use in four European countries. International Journal of Public Health, 65, 1289–1297.
- One in three children adopt passive responses to online risks that bother them, and one in four do not talk to anyone about what happened. This is surprising, since children report living in supportive and safe environments at home, school and among peers. Italian parents adopt especially enabling mediation practices, thus favouring dialogue over restrictions. However, findings suggest that the internet is perceived as more of a risky place than an opportunity: 52% of parents suggest ways to use the internet safely and 38% help children when something bothers them on the internet, but only 21% encourage children to explore and learn things on the internet. Teachers make rules and friends suggest things to do.
Giovanna Mascheroni (PhD) is a sociologist of digital media, and Full Professor in the Department of Communication, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Her work focuses on the social consequences of digital media, datafication and AI for children and young people, and families. She joined the EU Kids Online network in 2007 as the Italian coordinator, and now is Vice-Coordinator for EU Kids Online V. She has had a leading role in the Horizon 2020 funded ySKILLS Consortium —leader of the in-depth research on the role of digital skills in the wellbeing of vulnerable or at-risk children; and is a Partner Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. She has worked closely with the EC, JRC, CoE and OECD on the implications of AI for children and sits on the Consultative Group for the BIK Knowledge Hub (previously she was on the BIK Map Advisory Group). She has published extensively in international journals (over 50 articles) and edited volumes and is the author of three monographs. Her latest book is Datafied Childhoods: Data practices and imaginaries in children’s lives, co-authored with Andra Siibak.
Piermarco Aroldi (PhD) is a sociologist of digital media, and a Full Professor at the School of Education, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, where he coordinates the Master Program in Media Education. He is Head of OssCom, Research Centre on Media and Communication at Università Cattolica. He is a member of the European research network “EUKidsOnline” since 2007. Between 2021 and 2023 he led the CO:RE evidence base work package, coordinating the collection of more than 1300 studies and 1700 publications that address children's and young people's online experiences, with a particular focus on risks, benefits, vulnerabilities and well-being, published in the affiliated 35 pan-European countries since 2014. His scientific interest lies in media consumption in everyday life, especially from a generational perspective, looking at the family and children, the history and development of Children’s TV and digital media, the mediatisation of childhood and media literacy.
Davide Cino is an Assistant Professor in General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Milano-Bicocca. His research focuses on digital parenting, children’s media use, and informal education. During his PhD, he explored the digital dilemmas of sharenting. His work received awards from the International Communication Association and the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research, and his monograph Sharenting won the 2024 Premio Italiano di Pedagogia (SIPED). As a postdoctoral researcher at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, he contributed to the Horizon 2020 projects ySKILLS and CO:RE. Since 2023, he has been a member of EU Kids Online. He is a member of the Center for Educational Changes and Potentials in the Digital Transition (University of Milano-Bicocca), the Center for Educational Studies on Children and Families (University of Bologna), the Children’s Digital Media Center (UCLA), and the Center on Media and Human Development (Northwestern University). He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Children and Media and Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica and is a member of the scientific committee of the book series Educazione e Digitale (Ed. Anicia). He authored and co-authored over 40 scientific papers, book chapters and two books.
Marco Rosichini is a PhD student in “Sociology, Organizations, Cultures” at the Department of Communication and Performing Arts at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. His research interests include media studies and cultural studies. His doctoral research focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on the newsmaking process. Specifically, he aims to analyze, using an ethnographic approach, the practices and media negotiations that journalists establish with algorithmic technologies.
OssCom - Centro di Ricerca sui Media e la comunicazione is an academic research centre for the study of media and communication. It has been operating since 1994 and it is based at the Università Cattolica in Milan. Different institutions support its activities, including universities, public, religious and no-profit organisations as well as private companies.
OssCom, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Gemelli 1, 20123 Milano
Email: giovanna.mascheroni@unicatt.it