News Overview

The Easter holidays are just around the corner. Many families use the free time for outings and media time together. Many young children also come into contact with screen media in the family circle. It is important to take a closer look at what content young children are consuming on tablets and the like. YouTube in particular is not suitable for children. What should parents look out for when young children or even babies are consuming video content? What alternatives are there to YouTube? We provide information about the risks and important tips.

This trend is currently hard to miss on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn or X: images of people as action figures, comic figures or futuristic avatars, mostly generated by ChatGPT with image generators such as DALL-E-3 or GPT-4o, appear in the feeds. It's not just children and young people who are taking part, but also adults, influencers and companies who use the AI-generated action figures for marketing or self-promotion. The enthusiasm is great, but at the same time important questions arise: What data is disclosed and processed? And what happens to this information in the background?

A few weeks ago, Meta announced that artificial intelligence would now also be available in its best-known services in Europe. A few weeks passed before the functions were actually introduced everywhere. Now we at klicksafe have finally been able to test the new AI functions. We tell you where you can find AI functions on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. What you should know about the terms of use. And what parents should tell their children about Meta AI.

The Adolescence series shows how complex and devastating the influences of the digital world can be on young people - but also how important understanding is instead of uncertainty. Not every emoji is a warning signal, not every trend is problematic. It is crucial that we do not leave young people alone with their experiences and support them with openness, trust and a willingness to talk. Series like Adolescence can be a good opportunity to talk honestly with young people about digital forms of expression, belonging, but also about rejection, hatred and role models. The more we understand about each other, the better we can shape this world safely together.

The demand for advice from the helpline remains high. Last year, staff at the helpline supported children, young people and parents in difficult life situations in 117,934 consultations. The focus was on psychological stress and family problems. The latest annual statistics from Nummer gegen Kummer show that The demand for confidential and anonymous advice remains high.

With the new TikTok Shop, the popular social media app will also become a sales platform in future. Buying and selling within the app should now be very easy. Without having to leave TikTok. The company has already been successful with this in other countries and is now bringing the function to Germany. We explain how TikTok Shop works and what parents need to consider when their children use TikTok.

It has long been an open secret that many manipulative tricks are used, especially in mobile games for smartphones and tablets. Players are persuaded to use the app more often and for longer periods of time in order to spend as much money as possible. Children and young people are also the victims of these practices. Many of these mobile games are available for free and their design makes them attractive to children. The European Commission's Consumer Protection Network has now presented guidelines to prevent rip-offs in video games in the future.

Numerous materials for media education project work can be found online. However, these are mostly prepared for professionals. With the Snacks, Handysektor offers peer-to-peer materials for young people that pupils can use to independently implement media literacy projects at their school. A new topic package on fake news and artificial intelligence has now been published in the material series.

Baden-Württemberg and Hesse have announced that uniform rules for smartphones in schools will apply in these federal states in future. Even if not all the details of the exact structure are known yet, the announcements are already causing a stir. This is because there have been discussions for years about whether there should be binding rules for all schools under the heading "cell phone ban". We explain what is known about the plans so far. And we show what measures schools can already take to sensibly monitor the use of smartphones in schools.

Conspiracy narratives characterize many extremist movements and can lead to dangerous radicalization and violence. But they can also give rise to and reinforce anti-democratic attitudes beyond extremist structures. Those affected by conspiracy thinking and those around them can now obtain confidential advice online and by telephone from the new "Conspiracy Thinking Advice Compass". The platform is open to all those affected and those seeking advice and is part of a joint project by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs.

TikTok is one of the world's most popular social media platforms and is also very popular with children and young people in Germany. According to the terms of use, the minimum age for TikTok is 13. Five years ago, TikTok introduced supervised mode for underage users, which gives legal guardians more insight and control over their children's TikTok use. Accompanied mode is now being expanded to include three new functions. We provide information about the new features and give tips for media education.

Lent often means giving up sweets, meat or alcohol - but we can also consciously give up digital media. Being online all the time, scrolling through social media or being distracted by push notifications can cause stress. With our Digital Detox Challenge, we provide tips on how parents can reflect on their own media consumption together with their children and work towards more conscious media use.

Fortnite is the perennial favorite among online games. Around eight years after its release, Fortnite is still one of the most popular games for children. The following change is particularly important for parents and guardians: Fortnite now also allows content with an age rating of 16 and above. We answer the most important questions for parents: What exactly is the content in question? Why is Fortnite still rated from the age of 12? And what options do parents have to protect their children?

Taking part in risky tests of courage has always been a typical developmental behavior of many children and young people. Today, tests of courage are spreading as challenges on youth-oriented platforms such as TikTok or YouTube. Many online challenges are harmless, but others involve health risks. And this is exactly what the new commercial from the initiative "SCHAU HIN! What your child does with media." aims to sensitize parents and educators.

The 34th edition of "Digitale Spiele - Pädagogisch beurteilt" provides parents with information on current video games for children and young people. The special feature is that young gamers from Spieleratgeber NRW have their say and present the results of their game tests. In addition to the official age rating from the USK, each game also comes with an educational recommendation as to which target group the game is suitable for. The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth provides the current issue on its website for downloading and ordering.