Abstract:

Today's childhood is qualitatively different than a few decades ago. A big reason for this is the media influence, among which smart phones have the leading position, with all available options and applications. Many studies talk about the frequency of their use, but a smaller number deal with the question of the reasons for their use. The goal of this research was to determine the habits and experiences of elementary school students in the use of information and communication technology, with an emphasis on smart phones and the Internet. For the purposes of the research, a questionnaire was created. The students filled it out in the IT classes, accessing it via the available link. The draft of the research and the questionnaire received a positive opinion from the Ethics Committee of Jurja Dobrila University in Pula. The research was anonymous, and students could withdraw from the research at any time. The parents of the students, as well as the students themselves, were familiar with the purpose of the research and by signing and clicking the confirmation button on the first question in the questionnaire, they gave their consent to participate in the research. 169 students from the 5th to the 8th grade of elementary school participated in the research. The participants answered questions related to the frequency of use of information and communication technology, reasons for use and rules related to the use of technology set by parents. The obtained results show that students use smart phones to the greatest extent (87%). Some of them got their first smart phone at the age of 9 (21%). The largest number of students uses their smart phones for 2 to 3 hours a day, and most often they watch You Tubers, influencers and short videos from social networks. They are always on their smart phone when they want to, when they are bored and when they are doing everything for school. The results showed that almost 9% of children use a device that their parents do not know about, and over 20% of children do something on the Internet that they would not want their parents to find out about. Among the reasons why they like to stay on the Internet, they state that then they can be the "real them", in the virtual world they can find friends who are similar to them, and they think that in the virtual world it is more beautiful and fun than in the real world. They mostly answer that they have agreed rules with their parents regarding the information they are allowed to share with other people in the virtual world and rules about spending money. In the last 12 months, 23% of children were exposed to something that scared/upset them online, with 34% of participants deleting content that scared and upsetting them, 31% telling their parents and 30% of children talking to friends. Over 58% of children do not have parental controls installed on their devices.

This research provides insight into the need for society to think about the importance of smart phones and other media in the lives of students, and points to potential risks, the need for preventive work with children, and strengthening parental competences to monitor the child's use of the aforementioned devices.

Keywords:

IKT, smart phone, education, students, elementary school.