17th International ESCAP Congress 2017
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Contribution title 3020 - KIDS ONLINE: access, activities and parental mediation
Contribution code PS01-87 (P)
Authors
  1. Nesrine Ben Mabrouk Mongi Slim Hospital
  2. Soumaya Bourgou Mongi Slim Hospital
  3. Meriem Hamza Mongi Slim Hospital
  4. Fatma Charfi Mongi Slim University Hospital, Tunisia
  5. Ahlem Belhadj Mongi Slim Hospital
  6. Ghofrane Ben Alaya Razi Hopsital Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Departement Presenter
Form of presentation Poster
Topic
  • Infants
Abstract OBJECTIVES:
Describe the demographic profile and study the Internet use patterns of Tunisian children aged 5 to 12 years.

METHODS:
A descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted from January 18 to January 31, 2016, on “Facebook” (in groups for parents or scholar institutions’ forums).
Parents of Tunisian children aged 0 to 12 years were asked to answer an anonymous and voluntary questionnaire. 37 items concerned sociodemographic data and assessed screen media access and use among children (computer, smartphone, television, tablet device, video games).

In this work we focused on the Internet exposure (including any device by which they go online) among children aged 5 to 12 years.

RESULTS:
Our panel consisted of 206 children with an average age of 7,5 years. The sex ratio was 1,06. Almost all mothers (95%) had a high education level. The average age at internet’s first use was 5,29 years. 66% of children had home access to Internet. Only 34,5% connected daily online, with an average spent time of less than an hour for the majority of them (82%). 66% had a weekend (WE) limited access with an average of 2 hours/WE in 83% of these cases. The access was diversifying: via computer, smartphone or handheld device. Most of the parents were aware of harms and used safety tools (65,5%). Half of the children regularly visited Youtube (54%) and played games online (53%). One kid out of three used the Internet for educational purposes. 6% only had a social networking profile.
The parents allowed surfing mainly for entertaining (84%), learning contents (50%) and doing school work (18%), but also as “a babysitter” (19%) to keep their child occupied while they did chores.

CONCLUSION:
Tunisian children are experiencing a wide virtual world through the Internet. Parental awareness is essential on online risks, assets and safety measures in order to protect and adjust such exposure.