Survey shows many children upset by web content
With more than 90% of young children now owning their own smart device and using apps despite age restrictions, almost one third have been upset by something they have seen online.
CyberSafeIreland surveyed 2,300 schoolchildren between eight and 12 and found that over 30% had experienced something that upset them in the past year.
Almost one-fifth of these students (19%) reported that they had kept what had happened to themselves, failing to tell a parent or trusted adult that they had encountered the material.
A further 22% of the children surveyed said they have seen something online they wouldn’t want their parents to know about.
The vast majority of young children (93%) own their own smart device and 68% are active on social media, a 10-point increase on last year’s figure. This is despite a minimum age restriction for most well-known social media apps being over 13.
According to the survey, the five most popular apps are TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitch, which have minimum age restrictions of 13 years old, or, in the case of Instagram, a minimum age restriction of 16 years old.
TikTok has surpassed Snapchat as the most popular app with children, the survey also found.
When asked when they were allowed to go online, 27% said that they can go online “whenever they want”.
“The fact that almost a third of young children have been upset by material encountered online should be a wake-up call to whoever emerges in Government after the general election that we must get to grips with children’s internet use and access,” said Alex Cooney, chief executive of CyberSafeIreland.
There have been plenty of encouraging promises made in parties’ election manifestos, but the proof of their commitment will be seeing these translated into a programme for government, with clear action points and timelines to both protect and empower our children in the online world.
To mark Safer Internet Day 2020 today, the organisation is to launch two videos designed to encourage discussions in the classroom around the use of technology.
The videos were made by sixth class children from St Kevin’s National School in Dublin.
Both videos were devised, written, and performed by the pupils themselves, and made entirely on a smartphone.
School principal Barry O’Leary praised the children for their work.
“The pupils really enjoyed the experience of creating the videos and were full of enthusiasm throughout the project,” he said.
It provided a fantastic opportunity to tease out issues and really get them engaged in the topic of healthy use of technology, as well as demonstrating the creativity that is possible with only a smartphone.
“It is vital that all young people who are active online have the opportunity to have these kinds of discussions regularly both at home and in school.”
