Digital Media and Internet Safety Among Primary School Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Digital media has become part of our everyday life in recent years, and this applies especially to school-age students. The COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to distance learning have raised the level of student exposure to the Internet, including its dangers. Aiming to examine the impact of preventive programs for safe Internet practices on the media literacy of children in primary school, we conducted an empirical study among 267 students. Media literacy was analysed in terms of the ways of using digital media as well as in terms of safe Internet practices, and comparisons were made by student gender and age.

Digital Devices and Interpersonal Communication Over Time

“…In this way, the frequency of face-to-face communication is decreasing and is being replaced by these other forms. Moreover, the Internet and especially social media, have evolved into a new format for socialization and a means of interpersonal communication (Blažević and Klein, 2022). The phenomenon particularly intensified during the pandemic.…”