In the digitalized world, there are changes in people's behaviours and reactions. A good example of this is observed in children in the context of digital games replacing traditional games. Today, children tend to meet their entertainment needs through digital games outside of school, usually in closed and safe spaces. Although digital games have positive aspects associated with cognitive development and intelligence, excessive playing of these games or not paying attention to age criteria can threaten children's physical and mental health. In addition, children may have poor academic performance and behavioural problems. Unfortunately, children's cyber security can also be jeopardized in digital games played over the network without supervision. In this context, this study was carried out considering the need for a study that compiles the types of digital games, the positive and negative effects of digital games on children, the criteria that can guide parents in the selection of digital games, and awareness-raising initiatives in the field of digital games in Turkey based on the current literature. It is aimed that the study will contribute to educators and parents in terms of obtaining information and developing attitudes and contribute to this literature.

This paper reports on an evaluation of Net-Detectives, a creative online role play activity aimed at 9–12 year olds. Net-Detectives forms part of Kidsmart, an Internet awareness programme aimed at school children. It was evaluated through a multiple method data collection using questionnaire surveys, follow up telephone interviews with teachers and observation in use in three UK schools during the summer term of 2003.

A DIGITAL SAFETY MODEL FOR UNDERSTANDING TEENAGER INTERNET USER´S CONCERNS In education, Digital Safety is developing side-by-side with e- and mobile learning. Digital Safety is also included in the Estonian Cyber Security Strategy that points out challenges in social processes (rise of Cybercrime, protecting basic rights, as well as both proactive and reactive measures in Cyber Security and Digital Safety). New ways to use digital devices and solutions also bring along responsibilities, issues with trust, security and safety, and a need for regulation. Nowadays in Estonia, the area seems still to be a kind of Wild West as there are no mandatory programs or guidelines for schools (teachers, students and parents) to address the concerns and challenges – although these areas do have several good volunteerbased initiatives that were used as a part of my thesis to collect information and propose solutions. Therefore, I formulate my research problem as follows: what steps must be taken in order to raise the Digital Safety awareness and competencies of youth (aged 10−14) and adults supporting them (as there is an overall lack of understanding of Digital Safety concepts in the field of education). The objectives of this thesis were to understand habitual Digital Safety behaviour of students aged 10−14, the expectations of their parents, teachers and experts as well as awareness strategies of the field; map and analyse risks and solutions of the field; design and develop an analytical model for Digital Safety measures regarding persons or school as an institution, and to compare both liberal and conservative solutions that strive to change typical behaviour of students. The methods used in the thesis were design-based research (the ADDIE model) and the Grounded Theory method. Included in the toolkit used in studies were Delphi technique, surveys, interviews, narratives, participatory action research and qualitative content analysis. The focus groups for sampling were students, teachers, parents, experts and university students. The analyzing tools came from the chosen method, using different kinds of coding. The limitations of this study include internal validity as I used coding as a main analyzing tool – this was dealt with choosing different methods and sources for clarification. The study’s results are somewhat limited to the local context as mainly Estonian schools were participating, also the sampling is non-probable as it was chosen mainly by snowball, convenience, homogeneous and case study methods. Reliability and objectivity was improved by including external experts to the process. The proposed Digital Safety model for understanding teenager Internet users’ concerns is divided into four sections: stakeholder zones and their influences on the model, classification of risks, levels of concerns and solutions. There are six possible ways to use this model: for developing a national strategy, for understanding issues that are faced by the schools and students, for analyzing the 11 behaviour of those responsible, for developing approaches and solutions that address various types of challenges, for understanding cultural differences and similarities and finally for predicting the effects in the future when new measures are proposed or implemented. For future research I see possibilities to go deeper into various aspects of Digital Safety and its connection to young people, including trust towards government and institutions among youth; lawful and lawless behaviour in digital realm; digital interaction between young people and employers; technological and nontechnological threats for young people online etc.

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to determine the current status of computer usage, game play characteristics and preferences among the Turkish elementary school students. The issues of computer usage, game-play characteristics, game choices influenced by some effects and game preferences were investigated. In this study, 740 students of two public elementary schools from two different regions in Turkey were included. The participants of the study were selected among the 4th to 8th grade level.

Abstract—Today, as a result of the development of technology and the resulting innovations, it can be seen that internet applications and software are widely used by large masses starting from very small age groups to adults by means of computers and mobile devices. This wide and popular usage presents several living opportunities to its users but it also brings to fore the question “how effective and accurate are we using internet and its applications?” The state of awareness of children as regards “accurate and conscious internet usage” who particularly widely use products such as computers and mobile devices appears as an important research question. In light of this information, the purpose of the research is to determine the problems faced by 5th grade students while using the internet. The Interview technique which is a qualitative method is used in the study and the sample group consists of 5th grade students (103 pupils) who study at a private elementary school in Northern Cyprus chosen by convenience (accidental) sampling. The research employed a semi-structured interview form developed by researchers as data collection tool. According to the obtained results, it has been found that elementary school students encountered problems in topics related to the usage of social networks, computer viruses and relevant measures, and research processes on the internet.

The use of gadgets today has become a major requirement for everyone. In the present, many children are using gadget since childhood especially to watch videos on youtube, play online games, and search for learning materials through the help of the internet.This can be a good step so that children easily adapt to technological developments. But on the other hand, parents must worry if children play gadgets too often and access things that are not age-appropriate, which is not necessarily suitable for their age. It is important for parents to monitor the use of gadgets in children. The role of parents and teachers in dealing with this situation, they must have the ability to monitor and control the use of the internet by parental control applications. It is able to select, limit, and supervise what applications can be accessed by children and adolescents so they can still use gadgets as a learning and entertainment medium without having to be addicted and poisoned by negative content.

College understudies are overwhelming clients of the Internet contrasted with the overall public, and they assume a pivotal part in securing the Internet, and assurance of PCs is left to the activity of the clients.The main aim of the study is to investigate self-efficacy in the safe use of the internet for students. The volunteer participants used in this study consisted of a total of 99. The questionnaire is made up of 4 dimensions SNS, MS, WSS and CS which had 35 items altogether in total.The participants answered to items on 5 Likert Scale. The questionnaire reliability was calculated as 0.72. A questionnaire was used to collect data and was analysed and interpreted using SPSS. Frequency and percentage, Independent sample t-test, ANOVA, methods were used during the analysis process. According to the results of the study, students have good awareness of computer security on a general note, but specifically in terms of social networking sites, web security and malicious software, the majority of the students have little awareness of them. As a result, the study could help universities, government and even parents of students, in Cyprus and in other countries, to be able to access the Internet safely.