  The Internet has opened up new horizons of knowledge, communication and
entertainment in our lives. Through this, young people are presented with a
wealth of opportunities and activities that can enhance their skills and
empower their knowledge and creativity. However, the online engagement of young
people often comes with significant risks, encountered by children accidentally
or deliberately. The emergence of new online services at an unprecedented speed
and innovation brings the need, internationally, for a constant monitoring and
investigation of the rapidly changing landscape and the associated emerging
risk factors that could potentially jeopardize children's development,
opportunities and lives. The Greek Safer Internet Center conducted two
large-scale surveys to understand children's internet engagement, aiming to
contribute towards improved child protection policies that could guide the
efforts of key stakeholders towards a safer cyberspace. The first survey took
place at the end of 2018, with the approval of the Greek Ministry of Education
and Religious Affairs, and was conducted online among 14,000 pupils aged 10-18
years from 400 schools spread in five different urban areas of Greece. A follow
up survey was realized the following year, among 13,000 students of the same
age group from 500 school units in six different prefectures of Greece. To our
knowledge, it is the first tie national surveys of such scale are conducted in
Greece. The paper presents the analysis of the collected data, and describe the
underlined methodology based on which the survey was formulated and conducted
according to international standards, around specific thematic areas, namely
internet use and online behavior, parental engagement, confidence level of
children, digital literacy, social media, and online risks. The results were
mainly analysed based on educational level and gender.
