Social media & cell phone bans: "Many more unanswered questions than answers"

Spurred on by the current discussions on social media use by children and young people and the debate on banning cell phones in schools, the industry association Bitkom conducted a survey among parents. According to the survey, German parents allow their children to use smartphones and other digital devices quite early on but restrict their use depending on their age cohort. Bitkom CEO Dr. Bernhard Rohleder sees a need to catch up in terms of formulated fears and actual control interventions or addressing these. Those who allow the use of smartphones, social media, and the like on the one hand but share major concerns about this on the other must also act accordingly.

Bitkom Research conducted the survey for the first time. Accordingly, there is no comparative data from previous years, as Bitkom can provide more frequently. A total of 1004 parents in Germany of children between the ages of 6 and 18 were surveyed by telephone from the end of May to the end of June this year. The overall survey is representative.

Early on, but with guard rails

Rohleder was surprised that children as young as 7 on average use a smartphone, PC, or notebook. However, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) already stated a few years ago regarding the necessary protection of children in the digital world that children take their first steps on the internet “from pre-school age at the latest” – on whatever end device. According to the Bitkom survey, on average, children already have their smartphone by the age of 9. The survey also makes it clear that although 253 of the respondents had not yet given their children access to their smartphone at the time of the survey, none of the respondents wanted to deprive their children of one while they were growing up.

However, the vast majority of parents (77%) do not yet allow their 6 to 9-year-old children to have their user account for social media. This gradually changes as the children get older; children are then allowed to use social media at all or with fewer and fewer restrictions. According to the survey, intermediate steps for fewer restrictions are the shared use of family profiles or separate but anonymized user accounts. For example, the majority of children between the ages of 10 and 12 are allowed to join in as co-users (38%), but 20% are still banned from social media. In the 13 to 15 age group, only three percent of children are banned from using social media, and 16 to 18-year-olds are no longer banned at all.

If children and young people between the ages of 6 and 18 use social media, they are sometimes also encouraged by their parents to only do so anonymously: That is, without a recognizable name, profile picture, or personal photos. This applies to three percent of 6 to 9-year-olds, 20 percent of 10 to 12-year-olds, 25 percent of 13 to 15-year-olds, and 14 percent of 16 to 18-year-olds. User accounts with a recognizable name, profile picture, and personal photos are not allowed for children aged 6 to 9, while 17% of 10 to 12-year-olds are allowed to use such an account, 55% of 13 to 15-year-olds, and 83% of 16 to 18-year-olds.

Ongoing monitoring of the use of social media accounts also decreases as children grow up, both in terms of knowing access data and monitoring activities through their user account (i.e., “following” the child online). However, parents are very concerned about bullying on social networks. 80 percent are afraid that their child will be bullied there, and 53 percent know that this has already happened. 54% of parents also stated that their child had already seen disturbing content on social networks, and 33% had been approached and harassed by strangers. 18% of respondents are afraid that their child could drift into left-wing or right-wing extremist milieus through social media. At the same time, however, only 38% of parents stated that they regularly talk to their children about their experiences on social networks, and 52% inform them about what to watch out for when sharing images and videos. Rohleder sees the biggest discrepancy between these survey results. He explained: “If 80% of parents say that they are afraid that their child will be bullied on social networks, then at least 80% should also talk to their children about their experiences on social networks.”

Despite the information on fears, parents also see many advantages for their children in the use of social networks. Three-quarters (78%) cite the exchange with friends as a good feature. Sharing ideas and creative content (56%) and deepening their children's interests and hobbies (54%) are also considered positive by more than half of those surveyed; 24% also say that children can discover new interests and hobbies there. 43% see access to political and social information on social networks as an advantage for children. 29% emphasize that adolescents can find like-minded people there to discuss personal topics such as mental health, LGBTQ+, or body positivity – especially when they are confronted with people in their immediate environment who are less open-minded about these topics. Only one percent of parents stated that social networks do not offer any advantages for children and young people.

Clear age limits desired?

When asked about legal regulations on the use of social media, which are also being discussed politically, only a minority of respondents were in favor of allowing use under the age of 13: Only one percent would allow children under the age of 10 to use social media, while 19 percent would allow children aged 10 to 12. 39% of respondents would legally allow 13-15 year olds to use social media, while 38% favor social media use only being possible from the age of 16. One percent of respondents would favor a ban for all people under the age of 18.

Rohleder did not miss the opportunity to comment on the current political discussions on social media bans and strict age limits. He said: “There are a lot more unanswered questions here than answers and sometimes you get the feeling that it's more an act of desperation when politicians say: I'm going to set everything to zero and ban it in general. They have then done something, but whether they have really tackled the challenge and solved the problems is another matter entirely.” Among other things, he referred to the strict rules that have been implemented in Australia but also to the fact that age verification remains a problem.

When asked about the use of smartphones by their children – with or without restrictions—the parents surveyed gave answers that also matched their survey results in relation to social media. Again, as children grow up, parents gradually allow the use of smartphones without restrictions. In the age cohorts under 11, over 90 percent of respondents set rules and restrictions for use, while from the age cohort 13 to 15, the restrictions are then partially abolished. Here, 40 percent of parents still impose restrictions. Only 10 percent of parents restrict 16- to 18-year-olds' use. Likewise, it is striking that parents are particularly dissatisfied with younger children when it comes to whether children use their smartphones for longer than agreed or because they wish they used their smartphones less. However, the younger the children, the more likely parents are to set a good example for their use.

Rohleder also sees parents as having a clear duty here: “Children learn not only by rules, but at least as much by role models. Regularly checking their smartphone use is therefore an important part of digital education. Jointly agreed family rules can also provide guidance and help to ensure that media use in everyday family life is appropriate for children.”

According to their statements, parents do inform themselves to teach children digital and media skills, but the majority (79%) would also like digital and media skills to be included in the curriculum. Only a few stated that they were rather unsure (15 percent) or very uncertain (8 percent) about teaching these skills, but 41 percent also stated that they found it difficult to keep up with all the innovations.

To help parents deal with end devices and Internet offerings, Bitkom has also formulated its tips with the publication of its survey results. The industry association advises active guidance, controlled letting go, and competent support, which tended to be evident in the responses of most parents across the survey results.

(kbe)