During the last decade the use of Internet and the social media has spread in Greece with enormous speed, especially among teenagers and children. Some particularly alarming facts have been observed recently concerning the above groups of the Greek population.
It should be noted that the country is at present going through a severe economic crisis which greatly affects all levels of social services and detection. Nevertheless, individual researchers at various posts have been doing a good job at writing down the influence and possible consequences that access to the internet and social media services might have on young age users (https://saferinternet4kids.gr/press-newsletter/researchresults/).
According to research that has been conducted by the National Center of Safe Internet Navigation in Greece, under the approval of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religion, 70 % of children under the age of 13 are using the internet and social media services illegally.
The sample consists of 14.000 school students among the ages of 10 - 17 years. The measurement took place between November and December of 2018 at 400 schools in Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion of Crete, Patra and Larissa, with the form of an anonymous online questionnaire, that was administered during the class of Computing Science.
-The worrying conclusion arising from the data is that 70 % of those children could freely make use of Social Media Services under the allowed age of 13 years.
-What is more, a grave 21 % of them claimed that they suffer some form of internet harassment, and tried to resolve it by themselves without informing family, friends or teachers. Another 21 % arranged appointments and actually met someone they had been connected with online and 41 % accepted anonymous friend requests from strangers.
-It appears that at least 14 % has shared personal photos online and, additionally, 61 % has come across inappropriate / gore content.
-In the area of consequences 34 % admitted that too much internet usage made them neglect their daily activities. Yet, only 4 % has admitted being addicted to internet usage, while 20 % claimed that they don't suffer from any form of internet addiction.
-A horrifying 50 % has stated that their parents put no restriction whatsoever on how many hours or what kind of content they would browse online.
-A significant part (41 %) starts using the internet services at the age of 7 - 8 years, and 20 % even younger (4 - 6 years of age).
-Mobile phone is the most used intermediate for 73 % of them. At the age of 10 - 12, 40 % possess their own phone and, even worse, 23 % at the age of 8 - 10 years.
-Astonishingly, 83 % admit that they use the internet without their parent monitoring, and further more 43 % of parents don't set any boundaries on what kind of usage their offspring might do of the web.
-It is also worth noting that 53 % claims they learnt how to browse the net by themselves and only 4 % by a teacher at school. Even though they are self - taught, they believe that they know how to browse securely, avoiding possible dangers, and only 12 % admit that they are poorly informed.
-Finally, 36 % use the internet to converse with friends, browse movies and listen to music (33 %) or play games (24 %).
It certainly needs more research for reliable documentation of all aspects on the issue.
However, the matter is enormously important for educationists and parents. State institutions, schools and families ought to spread awareness on the topic, and dangers that the internet and Social Media Services might prove to under-aged children, via seminars, appropriate surveillance, intervention and prevention.
P.S. Many thanks as always to 