A hopeful study conducted on a sample of adolescents regarding their use of the internet and social media.
If a driving license were introduced, 55% of adolescents would be interested in obtaining one. This is one of the most significant findings from a study conducted for the Italian State Police by Generazioni Connesse—the Italian Safer Internet Center, coordinated by the Ministry of Education, and edited by Skuola.net, the University of Florence, and Sapienza University of Rome—Cirmpa. Among the 2.475 secondary school adolescents who responded to the questionnaire, approximately 1 in 4 also believes that a driving license should be mandatory, on a par with the one required to drive a car or motorbike. This need is even more pressing among 11-13 year-olds, where nearly 1 in 3 favors this solution. This underscores how a significant portion of digital natives are aware of the need for adequate training before safely accessing the Internet. But current events also raise another question: what should be the right age to start using social networks on your own, with your own account? 40,5% of respondents believe the entry age should be 14, while 14,5% would wait until 16. However, there are many who are extremely permissive: 22,5% would allow registration as early as 11. The strictest are far fewer, with just 4,5% preventing independent access before 18. The rest of the sample is split between different options, with some (3,9%) even believing there is no right age. But it is significant that, in the 14-17 age group, nearly half would prevent their immediately younger peers from accessing social media. The reason for such a recommendation lies among the reasons that, according to users who already engage in online social interaction and have gained experience, should lead to the introduction of a minimum age. For 59%, this should be done primarily because younger users often don't consider the consequences of their actions, especially in a world with such blurred boundaries as the digital one. Finally, the advice provided directly by users to social media platforms for verifying the identity of those who access them is interesting: only 1 in 5 would require recommendations alone. For the rest, other types of verification would be needed, such as ID verification (1 in 3), certified digital identity systems (1 in 3), artificial intelligence to recognize the user's age (1 in 4), or the aforementioned driving license (1 in 5).
