In an era when more and more children and teenagers are spending their vacations online, often at the expense of their emotional and social well-being, Save the Children has launched a new guide designed by teens, for teens, encouraging screen-free holiday activities.
According to a press release from the organization, the mini-guide was developed through a pilot event called the "Unplugged Hackathon", an intensive collaborative workshop where teens used technology to co-create offline activity ideas.
The guide will be available on the https://oradenet.ro/ website starting Friday afternoon.
According to the organization's data, nearly half of children spend more than six hours a day online, and the age at which they start using social media has dropped as low as five years old. During the summer, children can spend up to ten hours in front of screens, where they face constant pressure to be visible, accepted, entertaining, and perfect, long before they have the psychological resources to understand and manage these unrealistic expectations.
In 2025, the age range at which social media use becomes significant is between 5 and 10 years old, compared to 9 years in 2019 and an average age of 8.2 years reported in the 2021 study.
Two out of five children say they have been insulted or received "upsetting messages" online, an increase compared to 2021 and 2024, according to the latest study conducted among children in 2025.
48.3% of children spend more than six hours online daily, with the majority of this time dedicated to social media.
Among the cases that sought counseling services from the organization's psychologists between 2020 and 2021, one in three children experienced anxiety and required psychological and emotional support. This percentage rises to over 50% for adolescents, with some facing extremely serious consequences, including suicide attempts.
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