The Emergency

Digital education is not an option, but a right

In Italy between the ages of 6 and 10, almost a third of children (29.9%) use a smartphone on a daily basis. In the 11 to 13 age group, 62.3% have at least one social account, despite age limits

23 April 2025

3' min read

There is a silent Italy, made up of smartphones in the hands of children, of hours spent in front of a screen, of teenagers who build their identity - and often question it - through a social profile. In this Italy, digital access is increasingly precocious, daily and, in too many cases, solitary. Without adults prepared to accompany, protect and guide.

It is extremely important to turn a spotlight on this reality, focusing on children, girls and teenagers who live every day immersed in the online world. The figures speak for themselves: already between the ages of 6 and 10, almost a third of children (29.9%) use a smartphone on a daily basis. In the 11 to 13 age group, 62.3% have at least one social account, despite age limits. More than 80% of pre-adolescents chat regularly, about a third publish content, and one in three have been victims of offensive online behaviour, such as cyberbullying.

We cannot just react to the most serious incidents. The lack of structured digital education is creating a huge educational vacuum. It is time to recognise that digital education is not an option, but a right, as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and Adolescent has also reminded us. And as such it must be guaranteed, starting with the adults: parents, teachers, educators, who must be put in a position to accompany the youngest in a conscious and safe path in the use of the net.

It is not just about protection: it is about providing tools to read the digital reality, to recognise the risks, but also the potential that the web offers in terms of participation and growth.

This educational process must, however, come to terms with a fundamental issue: inequalities. The data tell us that in the Islands, almost one in two children between the ages of 6 and 10 uses a smartphone every day (47.4%), compared to less than one in four in the North (23.7%). Also in the Islands, 32% of eighth-grade students do not reach the minimum digital skills. The digital divide is not only technological: it is social, territorial, and educational. And it is precisely in these areas that intervention must be stronger and more targeted.

The Internet can represent an extraordinary opportunity for learning and socialising, allowing young people to explore and develop new skills, but it can also conceal risks in the face of which young people cannot be left alone. What is needed is a collective and structural action, starting precisely from the awareness of adults and creating a broad alliance between families, schools, institutions, businesses and civil society, and intervening to bridge the digital inequalities that are so present in our country. Bans alone risk proving ineffective and even counterproductive, and could push minors towards riskier and less regulated digital spaces, as well as discouraging a dialogue between adults and minors on online life. For this reason, it is necessary to invest in the training of adults, in the presence of competent educational figures, and in the construction of structured school paths that integrate digital education as an essential part of the curriculum.

We need clearer rules for platforms, effective tools for age verification, and concrete enforcement of existing rules on the protection of minors online. But broader educational interventions are also needed, such as the mandatory introduction of affectivity education and digital citizenship courses. Children and young people must learn to know their rights and duties even in the virtual world, to recognise and prevent risks, and to express themselves authentically and respectfully.

In a world where the line between real and virtual is increasingly blurred, we cannot leave our children behind. Educating them digitally today means giving them the tools to fully live their citizenship tomorrow. The time to act is now. Because what we call 'digital education' today will simply be 'education' tomorrow.