WORLDWIDE NET

YOUNG PEOPLE AND SOCIAL

NETWORKING

Mobile Internet access

and use among European teens

Casa Portuguesa

Report
Respect in the Cyberspace

April 2014
 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

WORLDWIDE NET
YOUNG PEOPLE AND SOCIAL
NETWORKING

Mobile Internet access

and use among European teens

Casa Portuguesa
Hugo Silva, Inês Fonseca, Inês Soares, João Ferreira,
Leandro Amaro

Acknowledgments:
The authors would like to thank community of Agrupamento de Escolas de Sátão and students of 1st
General Lyceum of Haidari (Attica, Greece), 1st GEL Kamatero (Greece), International School of the
Algarve and Gimnazjum im ks Wacława Rabczyńskego (Poland) for their participation in the survey
“Respect in the Cyberspace”. They would also like to thank teachers Lucyna Bejm (Poland), Akrivi
Anagnostaki (Greece), Papagiannopoulou Georgia (Greece), teacher of the International School of
the Algarve and teachers António Casal for his contribution in processing the data collected and
Maria Silva for her contribution in revising all work.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4

2. Access and Use ............................................................................................................................ 5

2. Access and Use ............................................................................................................................ 5

2.1 Where young people use the Internet..................................................................................... 5

2.2 How young people access the Internet .................................................................................. 6

2.3 Age of first use ....................................................................................................................... 7

2.4 Internet on mobile phone ...................................................................................................... 8

3. Online Activities .........................................................................................................................10

3.1 Types of online activities .......................................................................................................10

3.2 Social networking ................................................................................................................. 11

4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................16

5. References ..................................................................................................................................18

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

1. Introduction (Attica) and 1st GEL Kamatero), International

School of the Algarve1, Poland (students of
This report is made as a final product for Gimnazjum im ks Wacława Rabczyńskego)
eTwinning project “Respect in the and Portugal (students of Agrupamento de
Cyberspace”. The main aim is to understand Escolas de Sátão). The survey was replied by
why our generation is the Internet generation young people among the ages of 11-19 years
and why, nowadays, people can’t live old in the Safer Internet Week (11th - 14th
without technology. February).
The other goals of this report are to raise This graphic shows the distribution of teens
people's awareness to the fact that the use of according to their age for each country.
Internet is an open-door to new opportunities
for different children and adults of different
countries; to foster people’s reflection on their
attitudes online and the risks they may incur if
they don't behave respectfully and
responsibly; and finally, to study children and
adults' attitudes in interacting and using the
cyberspace. Students who answered the survey were
The report was made to answer three 615:
questions:  Portuguese students: 265;
1. What risks do children take in the  Polish students: 218;
Internet?  Greek students: 25;
2. When people surf the cyberspace, are  Students of International School: 107.
they polite and respect others or do they This graphic shows the distribution of
know how to interact with cybernauts in a students by gender for each country.
respectful manner?
3. Why do young people feel the need to
use social networks if in a lot of situations
they can be a source of risks?
This report has a basis in a survey that was
answered by the eTwinning partners of the
project “Respect in the Cyberspace”.
Participating countries include Greece
(students of 1st General Lyceum of Haidari 1 International School of the Algarve is a school in Algarve
(Portugal) where there are students who don’t speak
Portuguese (their mother tongue isn’t Portuguese).

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

2. Access and Use  21% of Portuguese teens go online at least

every week; 7% of Polish teens go online at
2.1 Where young people use the Internet least every week; 21% of teens of
International School go online at least every
The increasing diffusion of portable devices week.
is one reason that explains the expansion of  7% of Portuguese teens rarely go online;
places where young people is connected or 6% of Polish teens rarely go online; 8% of
use the Internet. They use a part of their time Greek teens rarely go online; 3% of teens of
to go to the Internet. Graphic 1 shows how International School rarely go online.
often teens use the Internet in each country.  1% of Polish teens never go online.

GRAPHIC 1: How often do teenagers go online

or use the Internet? Graphic 2 shows how often teens go online
or use the Internet in different places (at
home, at school, in other places).

GRAPHIC 2: How often do teens go online or

use the Internet in these places?

1. At home but not in bedroom and in

bedroom

 31% of Portuguese teens go online several

times a day; 49% of Polish teens go online
several times a day; 17% of Greek teens go
online several times a day; 36% of teens of
International School go online several times a
day.
 41% of Portuguese young people go online
daily or almost daily; 37% of Polish teens go
online daily or almost daily; 75% of Greek  In all countries there are teens that never
teens go online daily or almost daily; 40% of go online at home. The conclusion is there are
teens of International School go online daily young people who don’t have online access at
or almost daily. home.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

 75% of Greek teens use the Internet in Internet at school. Portuguese teens are those
their own bedroom very often, but only 11% who use more the Internet school access.
of them go online at home (not in bedroom)
very often. 3. In other places (home of friends/relatives,
 Only 3% of teens of International School libraries, cafés etc.) and when teens are out,
go online at home (not in bedroom) and on the way to school or to other places
35% of Portuguese teens use the Internet in
their bedroom very often.
Own bedroom is the most common location
of Internet use and this can be a signal that
teens feel more privacy in their bedroom than
in other rooms of their house.

2. At school but not in the classroom and in

the classroom

Teens continue connected when they are out

from home or school, on the move.
Therefore, not buildings can have Internet
but, with the wireless, highways, roads and all
places where teens are have Internet
connection. But 42% of Greek teens say they
never use the Internet on the way to school,
so the conclusion is the portable devices that
 Greek teens don’t use very often the
teens use not always have Internet connection
Internet in the classroom and 50% say they
or there isn’t wireless to connect them.
never use the Internet in the classroom.
 21% of Portuguese teens go online at
school (not in the classroom) and 41% say
2.2 How young people access the Internet
they sometimes use the Internet at school (not
in the classroom).
Graphic 3 shows what technologies young
people use to go online, the devices that they
In spite of schools are places with Internet
use to surf the Internet.
access where students can use it free, this
option is not very accepted because only a
little percentage of students say that use the

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

GRAPHIC 3: What technologies do teens use to  The tablet is not used a lot by teens and
go online? the home game consoles and the E-book
reader aren’t popular among young people
that answered the survey.

To conclude, the traditional ways to access

the Internet, laptop and desktop computers,
continue to be the more used devices.

2.3 Age of first use

According to one research that was made in

2011 “the average age when children start
using the Internet was dropping”, in other
words, younger children started to use the
Internet earlier, at a younger age. In this
survey, we asked teens how old they were
when they started to use the Internet, but also
the age that their first mobile phone was
 The most common devices to Internet given.
connection are the laptop and desktop
computers, the mobile phone and the Graphic 4 shows how old were teens when
Smartphone.
they first used the Internet, their first
 The laptop computer is the technology that experience online.
is used more by Portuguese teens (75%) and
the desktop computer is used more by Greek GRAPHIC 4: How old were teens when they
teens (50%).
first used the Internet?
 The Smartphone is used more by Greek
teens (50%) and by teens of International
School (47%). 56% of Portuguese teens never
use the Smartphone to go online.
 The mobile phone is used more by Greek
(40%) and Portuguese (41%) teens.

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 The age that is more common to the first
experience online is among 7-10 years old in
Portugal (71%), Poland (64%) and
International School (62%).
 Greek teens had their first experience
online, the majority of them (58%), when
they were among 11-14 years old.
 In Greece there are 25% of teens that only
used the Internet for first time when they
were older than 18 years old.
Graphic 5 shows how old were teens when
they got their first mobile phone.
GRAPHIC 5: How old were teens when they
got their first mobile phone?
 The age that is more common getting a
mobile phone is among 7-10 years old in
Portugal (63%), Poland (64%) and
International School (57%).
 The majority of Greek teens (58%) got
their first mobile phone among 11-14 years
old, and 17% of them got it among 15-18
years old.
 In Portugal there aren’t teens that got their
first mobile phone among 15-18 years old or
when they were older than 18 years old.
Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking
Although the majority of Greek teens got
their first mobile phone later than the others,
in 17% got their first mobile phone under 6
years old, the maximum percentage in this
cluster.
2.4 Internet on mobile phone
Graphic 6 shows if teens are able to connect
to the Internet from their Smartphone/mobile
phone.
GRAPHIC 6: Are teens able to connect to the
Internet from their Smartphone/mobile
phone?
 The majority of all teens (about 83%) are
able to connect to the Internet from their
in
mobile phone.
 About 16% of all teens aren’t able to
connect to the Internet from their mobile
phone.
 Poland has the maximum percentage
(88%) of teens are able to connect to the
Internet and Portugal has the maximum
percentage (21%) of teens aren’t able to
connect to the Internet.
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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

To conclude, the Internet is a recent mean of

communication that has evolved rapidly and
teens use it not only in laptops but also in
mobile phones. Besides their mobile phones
are able to connect to the Internet, so they
can use it wherever they are.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking
3. Online Activities
3.1 Types of online activities
Graphic 7 shows what teens do, on a regular
basis, on the Internet, their online activities.
GRAPHIC 7: What do teens do, on a regular
basis, on the Internet?
 Listening to music tops the list of activities
done on a regular basis (89%). Other popular
online activities are visiting social networking
profile (69%), watching video clips (83%)
and chat with friends (83%).
 8% of Greek teens play online games with
other people on the Internet and in other
countries teens who play online games with
friends are about 42%.
 77% of Portuguese teens use the Internet
to do research for school work. In other
countries teens who do research for school
work are about 49%.
 8% of Greek teens publish photos, videos
or music to share with others and in other
countries teens who publish photos, videos or
music to share with others are about 50%.
Graphic 8 shows what bother or worry teens
most on the Internet.
GRAPHIC 8: What bother or worry teens most
on the Internet?
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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

 48% of teens of International School say

that receiving unwanted bulk messages (spam
and advertisement) bother them; 46% of
teens of International School say that having
their account data stolen bother them; 46%
of teens of International School say that other
people using their account bother them.
 93% of teens have social networks account
 67% of Greek teens say that receiving
and in Greece all students say they have all
messages asking them to like a page or
(100%) social networks account.
publication bother them; 50% of Greek teens
 Only 8% of teens don’t have social
say that receiving messages asking them to
networks account.
share a page or a publication bother them;
58% of Greek teens say that other people
The diffusion of social networking have
using their account bother them.
increased and teens are more connect with
 65% of Polish teens say that receiving
their friends and people around the world.
unwanted bulk messages (spam and
advertisement) bother them.
Graphic 10 shows how many teens read the
 60% of Portuguese teens say that being
Terms of Privacy and Use when they created
insulted on social network bother them; 65%
their account(s).
of Portuguese teens say that having your
account data stolen bother them; 58% of
GRAPHIC 10: Have teens ever read the Terms
Portuguese teens say that receiving unwanted
of Privacy and Use when they created their
bulk messages (spam and advertisement)
account(s)?
bother them.

3.2 Social networking

Graphic 9 shows teens who have social

networks account.
 Portugal has the maximum percentage

GRAPHIC 9: Do teens have social networks (34%) of teens who read the Terms of Privacy

account? and Use totally and Greece has the maximum

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

percentage (67%) of teens who read part of
the Terms of Privacy and Use.
 50% of teens of International School don’t
read the Terms of Privacy and Use, which is
the maximum percentage of teens who don’t
read this document.
Graphic 12 shows the social networks that
teens use more often, their favourite social
network.
GRAPHIC 12: Which one do teens use more
often?

To conclude, even though the Terms of

Privacy and Use are accepted by all people
when they create an account, only a minority
of them read this document where are
determined the rules of using the site.

Graphic 11 shows the social networks where

teens have an account.  Facebook is the social network site that
teens are most likely to use; about 76% use
GRAPHIC 11: On which of these social networks more often this social network.
do teens have an account?  Youtube is the second social network more
popular among teens (about 13%).

Graphic 13 shows what information teens

disclose in their account profile.

GRAPHIC 13: What information do teens reveal

in their account profile?
 Facebook is the social network site where
more teens have an account; about 40% have 1. First name and last name
an account in this social network.
 Youtube is the second social network
where more teens have an account (about
27%).
 Poland is the country where teens have a
large diversity of social networks accounts.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

 About 91% of teens disclose their real first

name and about 81% of teens reveal their real
last name.
 In Greece, 100% of teens disclose their real
first name.
 24% of Polish teens don’t have their last
name in their social network’s account.

2. Name of school or workplace, phone or

cell phone number and address  The majority of teens don’t disclose their
current relationship status or links to other
Facebook profiles.
 About 75% of teens disclose their real
interests and, in Greece, any student discloses
a fake interest.

4. Birth place and birth date

 The majority of teens don’t disclose their

address (in Greece any student discloses this
information) or their phone or cell phone
number.
 About 61% of teens disclose their real
school name and about 30% disclose a fake
school name.  About 60% of teens disclose their real birth
 64% of Polish teens disclose a fake school date.
name.  Portuguese teens are those with the highest
percentage of fake birth date and no
3. Link to other Facebook profiles, interests information about their birth place.
and current relationship status
Graphic 14 shows how teens are identified in
their profile photo in their social networks
account.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking
GRAPHIC 14: How are teens identified in their
profile photo?
 About 50% of teens identify themselves
with a photo of them which they can be
recognized.
 27% of Greek teens are identified by a
photo of themselves which is difficult to
identify them.
 About 12% of teens identify themselves
with a picture.
Graphic 15 shows the frequency of the
accessing of teens’ social network account.
GRAPHIC 15: How often do teens access their
social network account?
 In Portugal, the majority of teens access
their social network’s account at least once,
every day and only 6% access their account
every two weeks.
 In Poland, the majority of teens access their
social network’s account twice or more times
a day and only 8% access their account more
three times a week.
 In Greece, the majority of teens access their
social network’s account at least once, every
day.
 In International School, the majority of
teens access their social network’s account at
least once, every day and only 6% access their
account once a week.
Graphic 16 shows the number of cyber
friends teens have for each country.
GRAPHIC 16: How many friends do teens have
on their social network account?
 The majority of teens have more than 300
cyber friends.
This reveals that teens feel the need to have
how many friends they want to become more
sociable and saw virtual world with how
many eyes they can.
Graphic 17 shows different ways that teens
use to protect their privacy when they use
social networking.
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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

GRAPHIC 17: How do teens protect their  About 18% of teens were harassed or
privacy? bothered and, even though this is a low
percentage, can be a cause for concern.

 The most widely adopted measure that

teens use to protect their privacy is the
refusing of friendship requests of unknown
people.
 Other measures that are equally important
for teens to protect their privacy are the
restriction of account information to friends
only and the unpublished of personal data.

Graphic 18 shows how many teens were

harassed or bothered online.

GRAPHIC 18: Have teens ever been harassed or

bothered on their social network account?

 About 82% of teens weren’t harassed or

bothered on their social network account.

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking
4. Conclusion
A study that was performed in July of 2013
by EU Kids Online, disclosed the classifications
for European countries related to the use of
the Internet among children, including
Portugal, Poland and Greece. They conclude
that:
 Portugal belongs to the “Protected by
restrictions” group of countries;
 Poland belongs to the “Semi-supported
risky gamers” group of countries;
 Greece belongs to the “Protected by
restrictions” group of countries.
“Protected by restrictions” is a group that
includes 10 countries of West and South of
Europe. The countries that belong at this
cluster are quite different in their policy and
Internet diffusion history. But they have
similar outcomes: (comparisons with the other
clusters)
 this cluster has the highest proportion of
children in the restricted learners group and
very few children in the intensive gamers
group;
 about 80% of children belong to the no
risk group (percentage of children in the other
risks groups is the lowest);
 most children are from the group where
parental mediation is more restrictive than
active.
“Semi-supported risky gamers” is a group
that includes 5 countries mainly from Central
and South East of Europe. Their common
characteristics are:
 the higher proportion of children in the
moderates group of opportunities, but they
also have a relatively high proportion of
intensive gamers (13%) and a below-average
level of young networkers;
 they have the highest proportion of
children in the higher risk/harm group (7%)
and average proportions of children in the
other risk and harm groups;
 the group of children whose parents apply
restrictive mediation is least frequent and
while children with actively mediating parents
are most common, the proportion of children
in this group is not higher than average;
 other forms of mediation also stay around
the average.
With the analyzing of the results of our
survey, we can conclude that students don’t
take risks online but parents and carers have
to mediate the use of the Internet and mobile
devices by their children. The reason why we
say that is the age of the first internet use is
dropping, as it is the age children are given
their first mobile phone. Parents have setting
the appropriate age to their children enter on
the technological world and what they can do
on the Internet.
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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

Young people that answered the survey say is the number of Greek students who had
that what they use more to go online is the replied the survey is lower than the others.
laptop or desktop computers. Portuguese
teens are those use more laptop computer
and Greek teens are those use more
Smartphone.
Social networking is one of the activities
topping the list of online activities. The
conclusion can be that young people need to
use these sites to become more sociable and
make how many friends they want. In spite of
the fact that every days we hear stories about
teens who was deceived by other cybernauts,
teens think if they protect their privacy, they
will be safe, the same thing couldn’t happen
to them, only to others. Again the role that
parents play is very important. They have to
talk with their children and explain to them
that they don’t need cyber friends to keep
their secrets; this is a thing that they have to
do with their “real” friends.
Playing online games is another activity that
teens do very often, but contrary what was
mentioned above, Polish teens aren’t those
play more computer games online, but the
Greek and Portuguese teens.
Internet is a revolutionary mean of
communication but nobody has to forget
people who surround us.

NOTE: Some of the data collected from Greek

teens can be not the reality, when we
compare it with the other countries. The fact

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 Worldwide Net Young People and Social Networking

5. References
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among European children. Initial findings of the Net Children Go Mobile project, October 2013

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 HELSPER, Ellen J.; KALMUS, Veronika; HASEBRINK, Uwe; SAGVARI, Bence, HAAN, Jos & members of the

EU Kids Online network, EU Kids Online – Country Classification: opportunities, risks and parental mediation;

Country Factsheet: Portugal, July 2013

Source: http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU Kids III/Classification/Home.aspx

 LEPI, Katie, Kids of the Past vs Internet Generation: Who is the Internet generation? – Cultural and social

characteristics, September 2013

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 Council of Europe, Pestalozzi Programme: Respect – Responsible attitudes and behaviors in the virtual

social space, November 2013

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 LIVINGSTONE, Sonia; HADDON, Leslie; GÖRZIG, Anke & ÓLAFSSON, Kjartan, Risks and safety on the

internet: the perspective of European children: summary, August 2012

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what bothers children online?, February 2013

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 GOETTKE, Richard GOETTKE & CHRISTIANA, Joseph, Privacy and Online Social Networking Websites

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 ÓLAFSSON, Kjartan; LIVINGSTONE, Sonia & HADDON, Leslie, Children’s Use of Online Technologies in

Europe: A review of the European evidence base, May 2013

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 LIVINGSTONE, Sonia; KIRWIL, Lucyna; PONTE, Cristina & STAKSRUD, Elisabeth, New findings on online

resilience and how children cope with online risks, January-February 2013

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