Internet use by children and adolescents between 9 and 17 years of age in schools fell in 2025, revealed the Tic Kids Online Brasil 2025 study, released today (22), in São Paulo. According to the survey, the proportion of users in this age group who access the internet in schools fell from 51% last year to 37% this year.
For Luísa Adib, research coordinator Tic Kidsone of the explanations for this decline could be the law that restricted the use of cell phones in schools, approved at the beginning of this year.
“We started collecting the research in March, when the cell phone restriction measure in schools had already been implemented. So, we can see a relationship between cell phone restrictions and the drop in internet access at school”, she highlighted, in an interview with Brazil Agency.
However, she points out other factors for this drop in use within schools. “I think they are also influenced by the political debate that is very focused and very strong on the agenda of protecting children and adolescents and the digital environment. Because, for example, there is already a decline [no uso] of social networks and the digital Child and Adolescent Statute [que dispõe sobre a proteção de crianças e adolescentes em ambientes digitais] is not yet in effect. So I think a part [dessa queda] it can be explained by regulation, as in the case of schools, which has already happened, but also by political debate”, he said.
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Stable usage
The Tic Kids Online Brasil 2025 study – conducted by the Regional Center for Studies for the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Ponto BR Information and Coordination Center (NIC.br), linked to the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil (CGI.br), also showed that the number of children and adolescents with access to the internet remained somewhat stable in relation to the previous two years.
According to the study, 92% of children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17 across the country are internet users in Brazil, slightly lower than what the survey showed last year (93%) and the year before that (95%). This means that almost 24.6 million people in this age group accessed the internet in the last three months in Brazil.
Although there is a certain stability in this number, the study coordinator pointed out that there have been changes in the ways the network is used.
“We are starting to see a drop in internet access at school and a drop in the use of social networks among younger age groups, returning to a level similar to what we had before the pandemic”, he argued.
According to the study, the cell phone was the main access device used by the population aged 9 to 17, being cited by 96% of those interviewed, followed by television (74%), computer (30%) and video games (16%).
Also according to the research, 84% of users in this age group access the internet from their homes, several times a day. In schools, 12% reported accessing the internet several times a day, 13% once a week and 9% once a month.
Among the most developed activities on the internet are use for school research (81%), research on topics of interest (70%), reading or videos with news (48%) and health information (31%).
The number of people who never access the internet grows
The number of children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 17 who say they have never accessed the internet also grew this year. If last year this audience totaled 492,393 people, now in 2025 710,343 people in this age group revealed that they had never accessed the network.
Research reveals that 46% of children and teenagers between 9 and 17 years old access the internet to watch videos Photo: rawpixel.com/Chanikarn Thongsu
“We already had the data [em outras pesquisas] that multimedia activity was one of the most carried out and that 80% declared that they had watched videos. But, we wanted to know what these videos were. We looked for some options and the one that appears in the greatest proportion and frequency are influencers”, explained the study coordinator. Another piece of information from the research is that almost half (46%) of children and teenagers between the ages of 9 and 17 access the internet to watch videos made by digital influencers. And this happens several times a day.
“We didn’t ask what content was produced by this influencer, but we know that there is a consumption module, with people promoting products, people going to stores for the first time, people promoting gambling games and proportions above 50% for all these types of linked content. Of course, there may be another type of content released by these digital influencers that is not potentially harmful, but we know that there is a part that could be”, argued Luísa Adib.
As the use of the internet can always be associated with risks, the study coordinator warns that parents should always be aware of their children’s access. “We know, from research, that active mediation is more efficient. So, when there is dialogue and monitoring of the practices that the child performs, this tends to have more effective results”, he observed.
Mediation
It is also important, she highlighted, that the platforms themselves carry out a type of mediation on this, which is already provided for in the Child and Adolescent Statute – ECA Digital. “But it is important to know that no isolated strategy will be effective. So, from the moment that person in charge uses a technical resource [das plataformas]this will work if it is also aligned with active mediation, through dialogue, monitoring and follow-up”, he assessed.
The survey interviewed 2,370 children and adolescents from across the country, aged between 9 and 17 years old and 2,370 parents and guardians. The study was carried out between March and September this year. Tic Kids Online Brasil is a survey carried out annually since 2012 and was only not carried out in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic.
