The Internet and Children. A look at online risks among adolescents

Internet, smartphone and social networks are a crucial part of daily life for children. Today these new “social machines” represent the main pathway to knowledge and relationships. While not underestimating the growth-fostering aspects offered by these new social machines, our study here focuses on the risk factors inherent in the very dimension of knowledge and relationship characterizing them. In this new, fast-evolving context, the risks need to be monitored. Research based on a sample of 1700 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 years, residing in northeastern Italy, has enabled us to update and clarify online risks, offering the possibility to elaborate indications useful to the adults and policy-makers involved.