While 70% of parents think that their children use screens consciously, among adolescents only one in five claims to be able to do so: the differences between adults’ fears and children’s real fears emerge.
The smartphone at the table, the tablet on the sofa, the continuous scrolling of videos and online gaming sessions. In Italian homes, the relationship between young generations and digital screens is now constant, bringing with it complex questions about time management and online security. Two recent surveys provide a snapshot of this phenomenon: an opinion survey commissioned by the technology company Xiaomi from the Bilendi research institute and a consultation promoted by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) Italy through its digital platform U-Report.
The intersection between the two surveys allows us to directly compare, for the first time, the perceptions of adults with the concrete experiences of adolescents. From a methodological point of view, it should be noted that these are two different listening tools due to the nature and size of the sample: the quantitative survey promoted by Xiaomi was conducted in September 2026 on a sample of 202 Italian parents (with children between 6 and 14 years old, stratified by gender quotas, age and geographical area); the UNICEF Italia survey instead collects the responses provided spontaneously by a group of children aged between 14 and 17 registered on the U-Report participatory platform.
The paradox of parental control: known to all, used by few
The survey commissioned by Xiaomi shows that the attention declared by Italian parents is very high: over 80% say they actively monitor their children’s digital activities, positioning themselves above the European average (stationary at 64%). Furthermore, 97% of those interviewed declare that they know exactly what parental control software is (systems for filtering content, limiting apps and establishing times of use). However, only 63% say they use it in daily life. The reasons for this gap often lie in the fear of invading the children’s autonomy or in the perceived complexity of configuring the tools.
Surprisingly, the UNICEF Italia consultation indicates that teenagers do not reject the idea of regulation at all: 84% of the children interviewed (14-17 years old) consider tools such as time limits and digital filters to be useful. Specifically:
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23.6% explicitly consider them “useful for protecting children and young people”;
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61.1% recognize their importance and usefulness, however asking that they not excessively compromise their personal autonomy.
Fears compared: what fathers fear and what scares children
The fears of adults and the anxieties of younger people often travel on different tracks. For parents interviewed by Bilendi for Xiaomi, the number one danger is represented by excessive time spent in front of the screen and the risk of addiction, followed by the fear of contact with unknown people and watching unsuitable content.
Over 40% of parents also express strong apprehension about extreme consequences such as cyberbullying or forms of radical social isolation (often identified with the term hikikomori).
For their part, the children consulted by UNICEF Italy fear dangers much more linked to the sphere of privacy and reputation:
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the main fear (indicated by 36.1%) is the dissemination of photographs, videos or personal information without consent;
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the second most cited fear (22.2%) concerns fake profiles and unwanted contacts from strangers.
However, the digital context remains a terrain that is not without incidents: approximately 50% of the young people interviewed by UNICEF Italia declare that they have already experienced at least one unpleasant or problematic situation while using the internet.
The optimism of adults against the difficulties of children
The clearest contrast between the two findings concerns the capacity for self-management. In the Xiaomi survey, 70% of parents of children between 6 and 14 years old say they are convinced that their children use devices in a completely correct and conscious way, identifying the only critical issues in the difficulty in measuring time (56%) and in the absence of precise family agreements (45%).
However, the direct consultation of adolescents by UNICEF Italia returns a very different reality: only 19.4% of children between 14 and 17 years old declare that they are able to manage their relationship with online platforms in a truly autonomous and conscious way. Almost 60% admit to having clear difficulties in disconnecting, while a further 18% confess to spending much more time online than they should. Among the reasons that prevent people from putting down their phone are boredom (27.7%), the continuous flow of notifications and the need to stay in touch with their peer group. Finally, on the domestic front, 30.5% of adolescents report the total absence or presence of “few rules” defined in the family.
The responsibilities of technological platforms
The request for a more protected environment does not only involve the family. Among young people participating in the UNICEF consultation, 37.5% explicitly ask for the design of safer social media, apps and video games, while 34.7% urge companies in the technology industry to do more to protect minors.
A need that fits into the Italian regulatory context defined by the guidelines issued by AGCOM (Communications Guarantee Authority, implementing Legislative Decree 159/2023), which impose on suppliers the obligation to make free and easy-to-activate parental control systems available.
According to the survey promoted by Xiaomi, where these tools are activated, 70% of families find their practical effectiveness: 43% record a real decrease in time spent in front of the screen and a general improvement in the management of household rules.
