Although most parents believe their children use the internet safely, the statistics paint a bleaker picture: the number of online abuses among teenagers has doubled. However, technical safeguards alone are not enough, as researchers at ELTE PPK point out in their comprehensive analysis.
The rise of the digital world now affects even the youngest children, making parental responsibility and the establishment of family rules a key issue. Based on their study conducted during the pandemic and a review of the research literature published since then, researchers Pálma Farkas, Gábor Szabó, and Attila Rausch from ELTE PPK analyzed families’ digital device usage habits from early childhood through adolescence.
The results show that parents have become more aware of online dangers: while only 10–15% of parents expressed concern in 2017, that figure rose to 20–30% by 2020, with cyberbullying being their primary concern. At the same time, however,
the extent of parental control decreases dramatically as children get older: while 80% of 11-year-olds are subject to parental control, only slightly more than a third of 16-year-olds face such restrictions.
Research shows that parents can help prevent the risks of the digital world in several ways. Four of these strategies appear to be the most effective: setting rules, monitoring, consuming media together and discussing what they see, and using filtering software. Apps like Google Family Link or Norton Family can help manage screen time, but they do not replace trusting conversations and active parental involvement, which have been proven to be more effective.
However, responsible parenting is reflected not only in regulations but also in how parents use social media. For example, “sharenting”—when parents share too much information and too many photos of their children online—is becoming increasingly common, and this can even jeopardize a child’s safety and privacy.
Research has also shown that families’ financial and social circumstances significantly influence the extent and quality of their access to digital devices.
According to the analyses, the home environment and technological competence have become the most significant factors contributing to inequality.
Parents with greater financial means generally have a higher level of digital literacy, while this is less common in lower-income households. Moreover, these disparities can further widen the social divide, as early acquisition of digital skills supports academic achievement and plays an increasingly important role in the labor market.
Conscious parental guidance is therefore essential for the development of digital literacy and safe device use. The study emphasizes that, in the future, there will be a need for easy-to-use solutions that support children’s overall development and protection in the digital space across all family environments.
The study can be found in the volume Digital Parenthood, edited by András Koltay and Gergely Ferenc Lendvai.