An EU Kids Online report has classified Poland as a ‘high risk’ and ‘low-coping’ country in terms of minors activities on the internet.

The report, released for Europe’s Safer Internet Day, commemorated on 6 February, ranks Poland next to Estonia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Polish children are more likely to be bullied (or cyber-bullied) while surfing the net than their European counterparts. The study shows that this risk, as well as receiving unwanted sexual content, is experienced by 1 in 2 teenagers in Poland, compared to 1 in 10 in Germany, Ireland and Portugal.

Meeting an online contact in real life, regarded as the most dangerous risk, happens much more often in Poland than in other EU countries, with 1 in 5 online teenagers going to such meetings (1 in 10 in Europe).

The most common risky behavior, according to the report, is giving out personal information (around half of online teenagers). Next, are seeing pornography or violent and hateful content – risks experienced by about one third of all teenagers online.

Today, 89 percent of Polish children use the internet (EU average is 75%).  The EU report claims that the problem is that access appears to exceed skills and cultural adjustment. Also, that more children than parents use the internet. Safeguards, like filtering software, are used only by around 28 percent of Polish parents, compared to 80 percent in the UK. 

The report says that, in Poland, (which is also ranked as new use, new risk country) media and ICT literacy lags behind internet diffusion, resulting in online risk for children in a context of relatively few regulatory and awareness raising initiatives.

The report, funded by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Programme, was compiled by the London School of Economics. (kk/mmj)