Liberal Danish parents

88 % let their children use SMS and the Internet whenever they want

Despite their limited understanding of the use of mobile phones and the Internet, Danish parents are very liberal, shows an EU report on the mobile phone and Internet usage among 12-18 year olds.

No rules

88% of parents let their children use the Internet as much as they like. Regarding mobile phone usage 74% of parents have no rules either.

Confidence and relaxed attitude

“The numbers indicate the parents’ confidence in and relaxed attitude to the children’s usage of these media. Danish families are good at communicating and negotiating without setting up strict rules for young people between 12 and 18 years of age.” Professor Birgitte Tufte from CBS explains.

Less reading

27% EU youths read less than before they had access to the Internet. And 32% watch less TV as well.

Professor Birgitte Tufte is the CBS anchorperson on this study, which covered the following EU countries: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal and England. 7393 people participated.

Conclusions of EU report:

89.4 % of the participants use the Internet every day of several times a week at home.

Only 2.8% use Internet in school. 27% never use Internet at school. 45.9% doubt whether their teachers are even able to navigate the Internet and 42% say their school teaches them nothing about safe use of the Internet. 60% doubt that you can always trust the information on the Internet.

Always online.12-18 year olds are always online. The mobile is on at all night, and many send more than 100 SMSs a day and log onto Messenger as soon as they come home from school. 46.1% have more than 50 people on their contact list