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Gemius Reveals Disturbing Data on Kids' Online Behavior

A study conducted in Poland reveals critical insights into children's and teenagers' internet usage, offering a glimpse into trends that may also apply to Estonia. More than half of children in Poland aged 7-12 actively use at least one social media platform or messaging app intended for users aged 13 and older. Shockingly, a pornographic website is listed among the TOP 10 most-visited domains by individuals aged 7-14. In December, one in three children in this age group visited such site.

A study conducted in Poland reveals alarming data about children’s and teenagers’ internet usage, and while the data focuses on Poland, children’s online behavior tends to be similar across regions, providing valuable insights into Estonia’s situation as well. This is only a part of the data provided by the report “Children’s Internet,” which initiates a program to monitor the presence of children and teenagers on the internet. Young individuals are using platforms that are not intended for their age group, which might have negative consequences, therefore the situation requires urgent intervention.

Among social media platforms regularly used by children aged 7-12, TikTok is the most popular—young users launch it multiple times a day and spend the most time on it. Facebook and Instagram are used less intensively. Among messaging apps, Messenger and WhatsApp have the most users.

Age group 7-12:

  • More than half of this age group—1.4 million children (58%)—actively use social media platforms and messengers designed for those aged 13+.
  • One in three children (760 000, or 32%) has regular access to TikTok, 24% (580 000) to Facebook, and 12% (290 000) to Instagram.
  • Children widely use messaging apps: 38% use Messenger (900 000) and 31% use WhatsApp (720 000).
  • TikTok is the most intensively used: active users spend an average of 2 hours and 11 minutes daily on the app and launch it several dozen times a day. It is estimated that more than 300 000 children spend over two hours daily on this platform.

Age group 7-14:

  • 85% of this group uses the internet (2.7 million).
  • Among them, 96% (2.6 million) access the internet via mobile devices.
  • They most frequently use social media and streaming platforms.
  • They spend over 2 hours daily on social media and nearly 2 hours on streaming platforms.
  • The most popular content categories are culture and entertainment, education, and erotica.
  • Entertainment—mainly games and music—is used by 95% of internet users in this group. A similar percentage accessed educational content, while 51% accessed erotic content.
  • Mobile devices are most often used to access erotic websites.

“Children’s Internet” is a report that allows discussions about children’s consumption of digital content to move from assumptions and intuition to facts. Researchers from Gemius, PBI, and the University of Warsaw—Jadwiga Przewłocka, Aleksandra Załęska, and Dr. Anna Miotk—presented data showing how young children use the internet. Magdalena Bigaj, Konrad Ciesiołkiewicz, Krzysztof Mikulski, and Monika Rosa described the consequences of children and teenagers being present online and provided a set of recommendations and directions for urgent interventions. The goal of the publication is to initiate specific actions by market regulators and institutions to protect children and teenagers from violence, abuse, and all forms of exploitation—both sexual and commercial.

The initiative is organized by the State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Exploitation of Minors under 15 (PKDP), the “Digital Citizenship Institute” Foundation, Polish Internet Research (PBI), and Gemius. The report is endorsed by the Polish Parliament (Sejm RP) and the Faculty of Journalism, Information, and Book Studies at the University of Warsaw.

Gemius is an international research and technology company providing data, as well as advanced tools for digital and traditional marketing activities such as web analytics, online campaigns’ management and ad serving. The company offers comprehensive solutions for marketers, advertising agencies, publishers and e-commerce. Gemius is present on the market since 1999. The company is a member of IAB Europe and I-COM Global. The research conducted by the company are carried out in accordance with the principles of the international ICC/ESOMAR code.