KIM Study 2022 publishedEvery second child is allowed to surf the Internet alone
For the representative KIM study, a total of 1,219 children between the ages of six and 13 and their primary caregiver were surveyed throughout Germany between September 2 and October 21, 2022. The survey shows: A total of 70 percent of children use the Internet, with the proportion of young Onliner*s increasing significantly with age (6-7 years: 38%, 8-9 years: 59%, 10-11 years: 85%, 12-13 years: 99%). From the age of 10-11, more than half of the children own a smartphone. A strong increase in the use of cell phones is also visible over the course of age (6-7 years: 28%, 12-13 years: 96%).
Above all, communication with friends and family via the messenger service WhatsApp and watchingmovies and videos take up an important part of children's Internet use.
Parents are ambivalent about their children's media use
Just under half of parents (48%) say their child is allowed or should be allowed to go online alone. Overall, parents have an ambivalent attitude toward their children's use of the media: On the one hand, 86 percent see opportunities for children to learn new things. On the other hand, 80 percent agree with the statement that the Internet harbors dangers for children. The majority of parents see the school, but also themselves as guardians, as having a responsibility to show their children the right way to use the media. Despite this, 68 percent of guardians do not use any technical aids to protect against unsuitable content. As far as children's screen time is concerned, special measures are rarely taken. About one-third of parents check how long their child is on the PC, laptop, tablet, cell phone or game console.
The entire KIM Study 2022 is available for download at mpfs.de available.
About the KIM study
The KIM (Kindheit, Internet, Medien - Childhood, Internet, Media) study series has been conducted every two years since 1999 by the MedienpädagogischerForschungsverbund Südwest (mpfs - MediaEducation Research Network Southwest), a cooperation between the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK - State Office for Communications ) and the Medienanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz(Media Authority Rhineland-Palatinate), in collaboration with Südwestrundfunk (SWR - Southwest Broadcasting ). The representative study maps the media behavior of children in Germany. All editions of the KIM study from 1999 to 2022 are available as PDFs at mpfs.de.