Youth Media Protection Index 2022Parents' concerns about their children's online safety on the rise

77 percent of parents in Germany are concerned about their children's online safety. Parents of 11- to 14-year-olds are particularly concerned. The focus here is on interaction risks, frightening content and usage times. Children and young people are particularly concerned about becoming victims of bullying, insults or hate messages. This is shown by the current study "Youth Media Protection Index 2022" of the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (FSM e.V.).

Blue background with inscription "Youth Media Protection Index 2022".

Participation gains in importance over protection

The representative survey "Youth Media Protection Index" examines how online safety of adolescents aged 9 to 16 is anchored in the concerns, attitudes, skills and actions of parents as well as children and young people. Empirical results were available for the first time in the form of the Youth Media Protection Index 2017.

71 percent of parents agree with the statement "The protection of children or young people of my child's age is more important than easy access to all online content." This shows a high regard for the protection of minors from harmful media. Parents and children consider technical measures, such as youth protection settings on devices, to be particularly useful for younger age groups (9 to 11-year-olds).

Despite this predominantly protection-oriented basic attitude, free access to all online offerings has become significantly more important to parents and children compared to 2017. There is also a lot of agreement with the assumption that children and young people are best protected if they know how to protect themselves.

Youth media protection as a shared responsibility

92 percent of parents see themselves as having a responsibility to protect their children from risks and negative experiences online. However, they also see media providers, politicians and supervisory bodies as sharing responsibility.

The results show an overall decline in parents' commitment to protecting their children from online risks. Parents of 9- to 10-year-olds show the same level of commitment as in 2017. If parents take protective measures, they primarily set time- and content-related rules, observe age labels and talk to their children about online use.

About the study

The FSM is the publisher of the "Youth Media Protection Index" study, which was conducted by the independent research institutions Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI) and JFF - Institute for Media Education in Research and Practice. 805 parents and their children (ages 9-16) were surveyed, representative for Germany, in the period from March to May 2022.

Further information on the Youth Media Protection Index can be found online at www.jugendmedienschutzindex.de.

Helpful offers for the protection of minors from harmful media

Interested parents can find more information in the klicksafe media education topic area. You will also find many brochures, checklists and videos in our material system. For a better overview, select the box "Parents" in the field "Target group".

You can find clear step-by-step instructions for different devices, apps and game consoles at www.medien-kindersicher.de.