Should we really be worried?

Are children and young people really at risk from new

technologies?Dr Martyn Wild Video

There seems to be a new scare every day

Parents feel powerless and fearful

• Children and young people know more than their parents do about the Internet, mobile phones and video games

• But they are not as good as their parents are at assessing the risks

The aim of this programme is to provide

Accurate and simple information on:• what the dangers are • how big a risk they are • what you need to know about them• what you can do to combat them and

protect yourself and your family

The Internet does not pose new types of danger to children

• But new technologies like the Internet and mobile phones make it much easier than before for children to come into contact with dangers

Danger is a mouse click away

• For example, paedophiles can reach children at home via Internet chat rooms and email

• And whilst surfing the web, young people can accidentally come across violent and pornographic pictures

The Internet is like a big city

• There are many wonderful districts

• But there are also a few dangerous areas that you would not want your children to visit

The citizens of the Internet

• As in life, most of the people that children and young people will come into contact with on the Internet will be pleasant, fun, polite and good

But not all …

• Some may be rude, obnoxious, insulting, mean, manipulative and even dangerous

• And it not always easy to spot them when you first meet

Putting your head in the sand is not an option

• Ignoring the problem won't make it go away

• The Internet, mobile phones and video games are here to stay

• Barring children from using technology won’t work

The answer

• You need to teach yourself, and then your family, how to avoid the dangerous aspects of the Internet

• Plus, you need to show them how to deal with the dangers when, and not if, they come into contact with them – teaching resilience is a key

What are the dangers from the Internet, mobile phones and video

gaming?

The 10 dangers

• Online predators• CyberBullying• Physical and emotional health

problems• Fraud, scams and commercial

exploitation• Mobile phones and video games

The 10 dangers

• Addiction to new technologies• Breaking the law• Privacy, reputation protection and

identity theft• Computer damage• Social networking and videosharing

Unfortunately, no child is safe

• Children from all backgrounds and of all ages face risks

• Parents tend to have more control over their children under the age of 12 than they do over their teenage kids

The particular risks that teenagers face

• Although they’re older and more streetwise, they are not at less risk

• They are more independent and less likely to heed warnings from adults

• Teenagers think they know best, are very influenced by their peers and are naturally curious

The particular risks that teenagers face

• They are more likely to use the Internet to seek out relationships and are far more likely to meet up with someone they've met online

• They are also more open to commercial exploitation

Teenagers need treating differently

Research shows that they need:• Greater freedom• More parental understanding• To be made to realise that what they

think, say and do is important

Parenting and CyberSafety

• The fear that many parents feel when it comes to this issue can lead to helplessness

• Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe

• But children and young people being what they are they will always be pushing boundaries and taking risks

Parenting and CyberSafety

• As we increasingly keep our children at home because of fears of their safety outside – what has been called the ‘risk averse’ culture – children and young people carry out their desires to socialise and take risks in the online world

Parenting and CyberSafety

• In the offline world, parents decrease the amount of supervision and monitoring as their children get older and more mature

• The same approach is appropriate in the online world

• As children get better at identifying and managing risks, the degree of supervision and monitoring can decrease

What makes the Internet different when it comes to safety

• Internet risks reflect offline risks - but on the Internet the problems can be larger in scale and more acute - for example, cyberbullying can be qualitatively different - and sometimes have the potential to be more damaging

• This is due to the nature of the Internet – its anonymity, ubiquity and communication potential

What makes the Internet different when it comes to safety

• Research is beginning to reveal that people sometimes act differently on the Internet – and this is one of the main problems

• The anonymity and absence of visual cues and feedback on what you do and say is one reason why

• This is more of an issue for children and young people – many are still working out the social rules and lack of critical evaluation skills

The Internet cannot be made completely safe

• With the Internet there is no single point where control over content can be exercised

• So we cannot make the Internet completely safe - which is why we must also build children’s resilience to the materials that they may be exposed to so that they have the confidence and skills to navigate their way around

• Keys are, where possible, reducing availability, restricting access and increasing resilience

The most common risks

• CyberBullying is the most common risk that junior school age school children face

• Privacy and reputation protection is the biggest issue secondary school and university students face

The numbers - CyberBullying

• In a study by the University of London in July 2006, 22% of young people said they had been a victim of cyberbullying at least once

• 6.6% said they had been cyberbullied more frequently

The numbers - online predators

A US Congressional study found:• 1 out of 5 young people have been

solicited for sex on the Internet • An estimated 725,000 American children

have been aggressively pursued for sex on the Internet

• 1 out of 4 children have been sent pictures of people who were naked or who were engaged in sexual activity

The numbers – online predators

• A University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center study found that one in seven (13%) young people had received "unwanted sexual solicitations or approaches in the past year" – 43% of those solicitations were from people under the

age of 18– 39% of the solicitors were described as over 18 with the

majority of that group - 30% - between 18 and 25– 14% of the solicitors were people the young victims

knew in person prior to the solicitation

The numbers - online predators

• Teenagers are at greater risk - "90% of the sexual solicitations happened to youths who were 13 or older"

• “… offenders rarely used deceit or violence. Rather they appealed to adolescents' interest in romance and sex."

• What this means:– Clearly, predators can't physically molest a child via the

Internet– They must first convince the child to meet with them and

that's nearly always done through persuasion, not force

The numbers - online predators

• Most - 66% - handled unwanted solicitations by removing themselves from the situation, by blocking the solicitor, or leaving the website or computer

• Others told the person to stop, confronted or warned the solicitor (16%), while some ignored them (11%)

The numbers - online predators

• Most kids who experienced these incidents didn't report them to parents or authorities - only 5% were referred to the police, 12% said they reported it to their parents while only 2% reported it to teachers or the school

• In more than half of cases - 56% - the young people did not tell anyone about solicitations

The numbers – online pornography

• From a percentage standpoint, exposure to unwanted porn is a bigger and growing problem - 34% of teenagers report they have "received unwanted exposures to sexual material" - up from 25% in a 1999 survey

• "The great majority - 92% - removed themselves from the situation by blocking or leaving the site or computer when they encountered unwanted sexual material

• Few - 2% - who encountered sexual material while surfing said they went back to that site later

Young people are increasingly putting themselves at risk

• 75% of children are willing to give personal information in exchange for goods or services

• 50% of children and teenagers have made phone calls to someone they previously chatted to online