The newest KIM (“Kindheit, Internet, Medien”, engl.: “Childhood, Internet, Media”) Study has been published in June, on the 25th anniversary of the study series. It has been conducted every two years since 1999 by the Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest (mpfs), a cooperation between the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK), the Medienanstalt Rheinland-Pfalz and Südwestrundfunk (SWR ). The representative study maps the media behavior of children between 6 and 13 in Germany. Between September 18 and November 7, 2024, more than 1,200 children and their primary caregivers were surveyed.

The KIM Study 2024 shows that more than half of 6 to 13-year-old children are online every day. This means that the intensive use of digital services is shifting into primary school age - often including the use of social media, although this is only permitted from the age of 13 according to the terms of use. Against this backdrop, questions of parental guidance and age-appropriate services are becoming increasingly important.

Daily internet use among children is on the rise: 54% of children who are active online are online every day - an increase of seven percentage points compared to 2022. The increase is particularly strong among 8 to 9 year old children, whose daily use has almost doubled from 23% to 40% in two years. The smartphone is the main means of access:  46% of children have their own device. 77% are allowed to bring it to school, although use is usually restricted - 63% only during breaks, 22% not at all and 3% at all times. 

Online platforms continue to gain relevance in the area of moving images.

A particularly  clear change can be seen in the consumption of moving images: since the start of the study series in 1999, the German children's channels KiKA and Super RTL have dominated the list of the most popular offerings. In the KIM Study 2024, Netflix has now become the most popular platform for films, series and videos for the first time - at 21%, it is clearly ahead of KiKA (14%) and YouTube (11%), even though the public children's channel is still the most popular weekly service.  

This development underscores a fundamental structural change: while children used to rely primarily on editorially curated television offerings, they are now increasingly using platforms on which they can individually select content from an almost unlimited range. This applies in particular to YouTube, which is currently in third place - a platform on which age-appropriate and non-age-appropriate content is displayed side by side, barely distinguishable for children.  

Still room for improvement in parental guidance.

The KIM Study 2024 highlights areas for action, particularly with regard to parental media support. For example,  43% of parents whose children have their own smartphone say they set a screen time limit on their smartphone. 39% monitor usage time and around a quarter discuss screen time with their children - 55%, however, do not take any technical or accompanying measures to control usage time. Parental guidance is also particularly relevant regarding social media: Many children use platforms such as TikTok or Instagram even though they have not yet reached the currently required minimum age of 13. The KIM study shows that such services are established in children's everyday lives - age limits are often circumvented or ignored.

The study is available as PDF (German) at www.mpfs.de 

Find more information about the work of the German Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline, and youth participation services, or find similar information for other Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.