The National Youth Service (Service National de la Jeunesse - SNJ), coordinator of the government initiative BEE SECURE, has just published the third edition of the “BEE SECURE Radar” report on current trends in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by young people in Luxembourg.
The report was presented on Tuesday 6 February 2024 on the occasion of the global “Safer Internet Day”, organised under the slogan “Together for a better Internet”.
To monitor developments in the field of ICT use and related risks, this annual report documents the observations and various results of different surveys carried out by the BEE SECURE initiative during its activities for the 2022-2023 school year. It contains, among other things, feedback from 286 children and young people aged between twelve and 30 (SNJ online survey), 500 parents with children aged three to sixteen (ILRES online survey), as well as teaching and educational (123 people) on various issues relating to the safe and responsible use of digital media.
The BEE SECURE Radar gives indications on various trends:
First contact with the digital world from a very young age
According to parents, contact with the digital world begins early: for 35% of children, the first contact with devices connected to the Internet, and therefore with the digital world, takes place before the age of four. This percentage rises to 81% before the age of ten. Their child's first activity with a screen is mainly viewing photos (38%), as well as videos and films (27%).
Most popular social media
According to a survey of 13,325 students aged eight to eighteen, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram are the most popular applications for sharing photos/videos in this wide age range. The trends are more or less unchanged compared to the previous year (basic education: WhatsApp (52%), Snapchat (45%) and TikTok (28%); secondary education: Snapchat (77%), WhatsApp (65%) and Instagram (55%).
A preference for screen-free activities among children and young people
Children and adolescents were asked about their favourite leisure activities. The results show that sports (46%), meeting friends/family (11%) and video/computer games (9%) are the most common responses among twelve- to sixteen-year-olds.
Screen time, cyberbullying & misinformation top concerns
Adults, including parents, teachers and young adults aged seventeen-30, mainly express concerns about screen time, misinformation, age-inappropriate content, data protection, influencers, cyberharassment and cybercrime.
Among young people aged twelve to sixteen, cyberbullying and sexual content are the main concerns. This year, for the first time, screen time is also among the top five risk areas in this age group.
When asked to rate their own smartphone use, about half of parents report that they use it too often themselves. As for young people, almost half of twelve- to sixteen-year-olds (45%) consider that they themselves use their smartphones too often.
Around one in five young people aged twelve to sixteen say they have already been the victim of cyberbullying. 30% of the twelve- to sixteen-year-olds concerned were victims of cyberbullying between June 2022 and June 2023, or 6% of all those surveyed.
Young people exposed to pornographic content and messages with intimate content
Young people aged twelve to sixteen estimate that almost a third (31%) of adolescents of the same age are at least “sometimes” exposed to pornographic content. Nearly a third (32%) of young people aged twelve to sixteen report that their peers at least “sometimes” send intimate photos or videos of themselves to other people.
Sextortion and cybersecurity, the most frequent topics covered on the BEE SECURE Helpline
Among the 101 calls received in the area of children and young people, sextortion was the most frequently discussed subject on the BEE SECURE Helpline, both by young people themselves (41%) and by adults (22 %). Cybercrime (including fraud, hacking and phishing) was the second most frequently cited theme by young people themselves.
It appears that there is potential for improvement in the effective application of measures to protect devices and personal data against these types of threats. As part of the “Keep your space safe” campaign, BEE SECURE offers practical advice to all interested parties at bee-secure.lu/kyss.
In line with the slogan of Safer Internet Day, “Together for a better Internet”, this report aims to inform and support all those involved in working together to help children and young people use the internet more safely and consciously.
