Today is Safer Internet Day #SaferInternetDay and the advice we shared in 2017 is still as relevant today as it was in 2017.

A staggering 4.88 billion people have a mobile phone worldwide and of them 3.8 billion use a smart phone.

According to UNICEF, children and adolescents under 18 account for an estimated one in three internet users around the world. That is a lot of children online!

A report by Statista advised that children in the UK spent an average of 75 minutes per day on YouTube. This was followed closely by TikTok, which has recently been taking the social media world by storm since we went into the first lockdown.

*2025 EDIT* As we approach Safer Internet Day 2025, the daily time children in the UK spend on platforms like YouTube and TikTok has seen notable changes. According to a report by Qustodio, in 2023, children aged 4 to 18 in the UK spent an average of 66 minutes per day on YouTube. In contrast, the same report highlighted that these children spent approximately 127 minutes per day on TikTok in 2023, marking a significant increase from previous years.

With most of the UKs children currently being home schooled, managing their digital footprint and use has never been more challenging.  Ensuring they stay safe and use the internet responsibly is even harder due to the complexity and settings of new, unfamiliar platforms and the games they download.

ParentZone have produced some excellent resources not only in support of Safer Internet Day but to also help parents set suitable boundaries and has a range of free activities to let everyone thrive online.