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Well-being in the digital age

Before the pandemic, children across the EU spent more and more time online. Owning a smartphone has become common and most teenagers have access to a laptop.

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Details

Identification
ISBN: 978-92-68-03309-8, DOI: 10.2766/03746, Catalogue number: NC-07-23-199-EN-N
Publication date
25 July 2023
Authors
Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture | Network of Experts on the Social dimension of Education and Training (NESET)

Description

Before the pandemic, children across the EU spent more and more time online. Owning a smartphone has become common and most teenagers have access to a laptop. 

A study on children’s online habits in the EU (Smahel et al., 2020) found that going online is now an integral part of the lives of most children. 

While the use of technology and internet can bring many benefits to children’s everyday life and education, extensive and irresponsible use of technologies and internet may negatively affect children’s well-being. 

With the use of the internet increasing to unseen levels during the pandemic, it has become urgent to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of children’s use of internet. In January 2023, there were 5.18 billion internet users worldwide, and 4.8 billion social media (Statista, 2023).

Authors

Carmel Cefai, Cosmin Nada, Helen Cowie,  Loes Van der Graff

Cite as

European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, C. Cefai, C. Nada, H. Cowie, L. Van der Graff,. Well-being in the digital age, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/03746

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  • 31 DECEMBER 2023
Well-being in the digital age