No internet limits set for majority of teenagers, study finds

Four in 10 middle and high school pupils in Greece have never had a conversation with their parents about how to use the internet safely and the majority have not been set any limits in terms of the time they can spend online or the content they’re allowed to watch, according to a new study conducted by the Safer Internet Center of the Crete-based Foundation for Research & Technology and published Friday.

“The study shows that… 60 percent of children join social networks at elementary school and 94 percent at puberty. We are also seeing that the role of parents needs to be bolstered significantly, as we understand that children are out there alone, surfing spaces designed for adults,” Giorgos Kormas, director of the center’s helpline (tel 210.600.7686), told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency Friday.

Findings of the study shared by Kormas include the fact that 60 percent of children will not divulge the content of their internet usage to their parents. Furthermore, it found that 24 percent of middle and high school pupils have accepted friendship requests from strangers and some 30 percent admit to meeting someone they connected with online in person.

What’s more, 18 percent of the younger children in the study and 33 percent of the older children have been harassed or bullied online, with 3 percent of the former and 5 percent of the latter admitting that the harassment included threats to share sensitive personal photographs.

The study was based on a sample of 13,000 schoolchildren in different parts of the country.