Introduction: The End of the "Innocent Internet"

As a cybersecurity editor, I usually describe data breaches at major corporations, ransomware attacks on hospitals, or vulnerabilities in banking software. However, at the end of 2025, we must look the truth in the eye: the real front line in the battle for digital safety has shifted from server rooms to our children's pockets.

The data flowing to us from CERT Polska, NASK, and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is ruthless and leaves no illusions. In 2024 alone, a record increase in the number of security incidents was recorded—crossing the barrier of 600,000 reports. This is not a statistical error. It is a fundamental shift in the threat paradigm. We are observing not only a quantitative increase but, above all, a qualitative evolution toward advanced social engineering and the use of artificial intelligence.

In this article, based on hard data from services and public trust organizations, I will break down the reality that Generations Alpha and Z face today.

The Ecosystem: Smartphone Instead of a Pacifier

Before we discuss specific threats, we must understand the environment in which they germinate. Forget the image of a child sitting at a family computer in the living room, where a parent can discreetly glance over their shoulder. That era is irretrievably gone.

According to the latest analyses, 93% of teenagers connect to the network mainly via a phone. The smartphone has become the unquestioned center of digital life, marginalizing tablets and computers. However, the demographic data regarding the age of initiation is the most shocking: as many as 4 out of 10 children receive their own smartphone with unlimited internet access before their 9th birthday. In the group of 7th-8th grade students, this percentage is 45%.

What does this mean in practice?

Lack of Real Supervision: The internet accompanies the child at school, on the bus, and above all—in the bedroom. This leads to sleep deprivation as notifications disrupt the circadian rhythm.
User Immaturity: Tools with global reach end up in the hands of children who have not yet developed critical thinking mechanisms or the emotional self-regulation necessary to filter content.
The Attention Economy: Apps are not neutral. They are designed to maximize engagement through a "variable reinforcement" mechanism (the brain's reward system), leading to habitual phone usage. It is estimated that 250,000 early school-age children open TikTok 20 or more times a day. The average time online is nearly 5 hours a day, and even longer on weekends.

Artificial Intelligence: A New "Friend" and Fake News Creator

The year 2025 is the moment when AI entered schools and homes with momentum. 70% of teenagers have already had contact with Generative AI tools , and for more than half of them, ChatGPT has become the main source of information, displacing Google and Wikipedia.

Although AI has educational potential (48% of students use it), it also carries new, subtle threats:

Hallucinations and Disinformation: Young people uncritically accept answers from chatbots, which can generate false information.
Relationships with Machines: Apps like Character.AI allow for the creation of virtual partners. Children, feeling lonely in the real world, build emotional bonds with algorithms, which deepens their social isolation.
Deepfake in Cyberbullying: This technology has become a weapon in the hands of teenagers—generating humiliating or erotic materials featuring peers is easier than ever.

Threat Overview: The Dark Side of Algorithms

As an editorial team, we analyzed reports flowing to incident response teams. Here is the threat roadmap for AD 2025:

1. Grooming: Manipulation in Six Acts

This is one of the most dangerous crimes, often confused by parents with "just chatting". Grooming is a process of seducing a child, precisely spread over time. Criminology distinguishes repeatable stages here:

Targeting: The perpetrator selects a child showing signs of vulnerability (loneliness, conflict at home).
Building Trust: They enter the role of an "ideal friend" or confidant, often faking their age.
Isolation (Alienation): A key moment of manipulation—turning the child against their environment with slogans like "Parents don't understand you, only I know how you feel".
Sexualization (Desensitization): Gradual introduction of erotic themes, often under the guise of jokes, and testing boundaries.
Abuse: Leading to sexual acts online (e.g., on camera) or a meeting in real life.
Blackmail (Sextortion): The moment the mask falls. The perpetrator threatens to publish the obtained materials if the child does not fulfill further demands.

2. Patostreaming: Violence for Sale

A specific feature of the Polish internet that is not losing strength. Patostreaming involves live broadcasts presenting deviant behaviors: heavy drinking, domestic violence, destruction of property. The worst part is the business model of this phenomenon. Viewers (often children) pay money ("donations") to have a sense of agency—they can "order" someone to be hit or alcohol to be downed in one go. For a young viewer, this is a form of interactive entertainment that leads to total desensitization to human harm.

3. Deadly Challenges

TikTok and viral trends are not just innocent dances. The adolescent brain, with a still-maturing prefrontal cortex, does not effectively inhibit impulses, and the reward system demands likes. Hence the popularity of challenges directly threatening life:

Blackout Challenge: Intentional choking to the point of unconsciousness.
Benadryl Challenge: Taking toxic doses of medication to induce hallucinations.
Sleepy Chicken: Cooking meat in cough syrup, which releases toxic fumes.
Fire Challenge: Playing with fire on the body.

4. Scamming: Fraud in the Gaming World

Children are becoming targets of financially motivated attacks. In games like Roblox or Fortnite, currency (Robux) and skins are status symbols. Criminals phish for passwords, promising free top-ups. Equally dangerous are sales platforms (Vinted, OLX), where teenagers selling clothes fall victim to phishing, providing their parents' credit card details.

Legal Minefield: Sexting and Art. 202 of the Penal Code

This is a taboo subject that needs to be spoken about loudly. Sexting (sending intimate photos) has become an element of modern romantic relationships among youth. However, the law does not keep up with customs, which breeds dramatic consequences.

In the Polish legal system (Art. 202 § 4 of the Penal Code), recording pornographic content involving a minor is a crime [cite: 66-67]. The law does not distinguish intentions. This means a paradox where a teenager possessing a naked photo of their girlfriend (also a minor) on their phone, received voluntarily, can be criminally liable under the same section as a pedophile producing child pornography. A particular cruelty is Revenge Porn—using such photos as a tool for revenge after a breakup, leading to victim stigmatization and personal tragedies [cite: 70-71].

What to Do? A Survival Guide for Parents

Knowledge is one thing, action is another. We are not helpless. Protection requires combining hard technical barriers with soft skills.

Step 1: Configuration (Hardening)

Technology should be the first line of defense. Here is what you must set up "yesterday":

TikTok (Family Pairing): The "Family Pairing" feature allows you to remotely link a parent's account with a child's account. You can set a time limit (e.g., 60 min), enable restricted mode filtering content, and—most importantly—disable Direct Messages (DM) [cite: 115-117].
YouTube: For children up to 9 years old, there is only YouTube Kids. For older ones, configure a Supervised Account (Google Family Link) with the appropriate content level ("Explore" or "Most of YouTube" with a filter). Remember that you can permanently block harmful channels (e.g., patostreamers) in the "Report" menu [cite: 130-131].
Roblox: Set the child's correct date of birth (<13 years old has stronger filters). Enable "Account Restrictions" in privacy settings, which blocks chat and unverified games. Secure this with a parent PIN.
Instagram (2025 Update): New accounts for people under 16 are private by default. PG-13 filters and "Night Mode" (Sleep Mode), which silences notifications between 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM, have also been introduced [cite: 144-145].

Step 2: Education and Relationship

No filter will replace a conversation.

Family Digital Code: Write down the rules. Establish screen-free zones (e.g., the table, the bed).
Transparency Principle: This is the most important point of the contract. The child must know: "If something online scares you, embarrasses you, or someone blackmails you—come to me. I will not judge, I will not take the phone away. We will solve it together".
JOMO (Joy of Missing Out): Promote offline time. Show that the world outside the screen is also attractive.

Where to Seek Help?

If the milk is spilled, do not act on your own. A professional support network operates in Poland:

116 111 – Helpline for Children and Youth (FDDS). Anonymous, available 24/7.
800 12 12 12 – Children's Ombudsman Helpline. Interventions in cases of violence.
800 100 100 – Helpline for Parents and Teachers. You call here when you don't know how to help a child.
Dyżurnet.pl – NASK contact point. Here you (anonymously) report illegal content (child pornography, racism). A team of experts analyzes the report and passes it to the Police, leading to the removal of materials [cite: 176-183].

Summary

Analyzing the threat landscape in 2025, it is clearly visible: children's safety online is a process, not a one-time action. Threats will evolve—yesterday it was a virus, today it is a TikTok algorithm and a fake AI friend. As adults, we must assume the role of wise guides. The most effective "antivirus" remains a strong relationship with a parent. Be present.

Aleksander

Sources and helpful links: