SCHOOLS have reopened. Classes have resumed. It’s the perfect time to talk about current popular tools that can be a source of our children’s knowledge, but can also be dangerous – the internet and social media, mobile phones, computers.
The use of smartphones to send, receive and post messages, photos and videos online is rising fast. But experts say children’s online safety skills have failed to rise at the same rate as their adoption of new applications and devices.
“Sexting,” bullying, unsolicited explicit content (sex and violence) and sexual approaches from strangers have become routine online dangers modern teenagers face, yet studies show that adults’ knowledge of what young people are doing online is often vague and complacent.
Likewise, research reveals that while 92 percent of parents say they have established clear rules for their children’s online activity, 34 percent of children say their parents have not.
While parents often believe they know enough about the online world to keep their children safe, a 2012 study by Internet security specialist McAfee revealed that four-fifths of teenagers say they know how to hide their online behavior from their parents.
Generally, restricting children’s internet access is not the answer: one reason children don’t tell parents about abuse is that the typical reaction of parents is to cut off the child’s Internet connection. This can have the counter-productive effect of making children even more secretive about their online activities. What we really need is a special focus on better education strategies for parents, teachers and pupils, starting as young as five years old, to promote greater online safety for children and young people.
Innovation by the private sector has helped drive the digital revolution. The same spirit of innovation is key to expanding the reach of that revolution to the most disadvantaged children – and to keeping all children safer, more connected, and more engaged as digital citizens of the future.
Children’s online safety is a responsibility we all share: from those who care for and teach children, to the companies that provide online services, to policymakers.
A call must be made for a comprehensive response to the online risks facing children and parents across multiple stakeholder groups, including governments, companies, civil society, parents and educators.
