Children and Adolescents on the Internet: A Current Profile of Risks in Brazil

Children and adolescents have changed their behavior due to access to digital technologies and the Internet. This fact is globally irreversible. Digital connections promote new opportunities but also more health risks. Messages of violence, discourses of hatred and intolerance, contacts with strangers, and online dependence can generate psychological distress and physical damage that are increasingly common. Apps and social networks accessed on smartphones are the primary vehicles for these aggressions and risks. In Brazil, 24.3 million young people (82%) between 9 and 17 years access the Internet through their smartphones (91%) or computers (60%), and 52% of parents did not know what contents are accessed through the Internet, according to the survey ICT Kids Online Brazil (2016). This chapter analyzes online health and safety problems, assess the protective factors, and highlight the importance of mediation by parents, educators, and health professionals in this context.