Children in Austria are getting their first mobile phones at increasingly younger ages. “On average, the entry age is nine years,” said Günter Lischka, board member of the mobile provider Drei, at a press conference in Vienna on Friday. The company commissioned Marketmind to conduct a survey of more than 1,000 parents of children aged 8 to 14 on the topic. The main reasons cited were safety and reachability, especially for the way to and from school.

“By age 14, almost every child has a smartphone,” Lischka said. “People who are 40 today typically got their first mobile phone at age ten.” Since the recent school mobile phone ban, the issue has been “hotly debated” again. The survey also showed that parents remain concerned about their children’s excessive smartphone use and exposure to inappropriate content on social media. Only about half of parents have taken precautions to protect their children from overuse, harmful content, and to safeguard their privacy.

Dangers online include violence or pornography

Many parents see dangers in access to inappropriate content such as violent scenes, pornography, extremist or manipulative material, and fake news (73 percent of respondents). Concerns also include cyberbullying and privacy abuse (65 percent each), as well as subscription traps or in-app purchases (55 percent). “Even though real phone addiction isn’t widespread, we find problematic smartphone use in all age groups. Parental behavior has a strong role-model effect,” said psychotherapist and addiction expert Julia Dier.

Because of these fears, parents often intervene. Around half use technical restrictions for screen time or app usage (51 percent), 43 percent adjust privacy settings, and 27 percent check browser histories or chats. Meanwhile, around 70 percent believe that inappropriate content and unauthorized purchases should be blocked by technical safety features. An expanded offering of advice and support is also seen as positive: four in ten parents said youth protection services in stores are helpful. Lischka noted that in some Drei shops, even parents of four-, five-, and six-year-olds come in to buy their children their first phones.

“Safe” initiative helps set up kids’ phones

For this reason, Drei has launched the “Safe” initiative to help children enter the digital world more safely. Across Austria, Drei shops now offer a new service called “Kinder- und Jugendschutz Go” (Child and Youth Protection Go), available to customers of all mobile providers. Staff help set up parental controls, such as child accounts (iCloud or Gmail), screen time limits, content filters, purchase approvals, and optional location tracking.

Drei has also partnered with Austrian start-up Ohana, which developed a parental control app in 2022. “Until now, it was mostly about surveillance. But no one asked what that does to the child or the parent-child relationship,” said Ohana co-founder Christian Orgler. Kids also have to be included in the discussion and have a right to privacy. The app does not monitor chat or browser history, but sends warnings when kids attempt to access inappropriate sites. It features a learning mode that allows educational apps but blocks social media, and a sleep mode that disables distractions. However, the app requires a paid subscription.