Abstract:

The problem of cyber-addiction in primary school children has taken on new dimensions in the last few months in the context of the state of emergency, caused by the COVID-19 phenomenon. Not only children but also adults have to spend much more time in front of a screen (computers, laptops, tablets, phones, TVs, Play Stations, other game consoles, etc.) for various reasons: work, study, a lot of free time, communication, entertainment, information retrieval. It turned out that the threat of the ability of digital technologies and the Internet to flood the daily lives of children, in fact proved to be a salvation from the crisis and did not allow to cancel the school year, people to lose their jobs, not to go crazy from boredom and lack of social contacts during the weeks of isolation.

In this line of thinking, a study was conducted whose main task is to examine the opinion of parents whether the time spent in front of a screen for learning increases or decreases the likelihood of developing cyber-addiction in children in primary school. 120 parents were interviewed. The survey is author's and includes 20 questions, which are mainly related to: demographic aspect; the most used educational platforms; how much time the child spends in front of a screen in the conditions of online learning; if child is distracted in online hours; whether it gets fed up on screen or can't wait to leave the classroom and start playing games; does child play games, listen to music, chat with friends while he is in the classroom; does online learning help bring students closer together; whether it helps to improve students' computer skills; do they feel the benefits of digital devices and the Internet; do they recognize them as an educational environment, not just a means of entertainment. It is no coincidence that the parents of the children were interviewed, as in recent months they have the best opportunity to monitor the behavior of their children. The results obtained will be analyzed in this article.

Keywords:

Cyber-addiction, primary school, digital technologies, online learning.