Children rarely get help
from online services
Existing reporting tools on the Internet aimed at helping children who face problems online do not work. In fact only 13% of children who were upset on the internet reported this through an online reporting mechanism. This highlights that the industry needs to do much more. The study also reveals that one in five children have seen potentially dangerous internet content such as websites, which promote anorexia and suicide techniques. These are two of the more important conclusions of a new report from the EU Kids Online project. This pan European project led by the London School of Economics studies the use EU kids make of the internet.
This report was released on the eve of a meeting that was hosted by the European Commission on 11 July during which the Internet industry presented its efforts to keep children safe online. In a new report looking at industry strategies compared to what children actually do online, researchers around Europe recommend that industry focus more on child-friendly communication and accessible tools.
Malta to participate in the next phase of this research
“In Malta we need to discover more about what children are doing online and that is why we are participating in the present phase of the EU Kids Online research,” explains Professor Mary Anne Lauri, from the University of Malta, who is the Maltese coordinator for the project.
Parents more worried about online risk
than alcohol, sex and drugs
When asked, parents top five concerns include school achievement, road accidents, bullying (on or offline) and crime. Online risks – being contacted by strangers or seeing inappropriate content are also in the list of nine worries: one in three parents say they worry about these risks a lot. Fewer worry about alcohol, drugs, getting into trouble with the police and sexual activities.
At the same time, children reporting problems resulting from contacts met online were generally dissatisfied with the help received from online services. Only two thirds of children who reported content or conduct risks found the response helpful, though one third did not. Those reporting sexual images were a little more positive about the help received than those reporting conduct risks (sexting, cyber-bullying).
Those less experienced in internet use should be specifically encouraged and enabled to use online tools, and these tools should be designed for ease of use by inexperienced internet users.
Parental mediation also important
Parental active mediation of use – for example, doing shared activities online together or encouraging a child to learn things on their own while remaining available if needed reduces the probability of children’s exposure to online risks at all ages, and it is also linked to decreased experiences of harm among nine to 12-year-olds without reducing their exposure to the positives of online activity.
Prof. Lauri, the coordinator of the project said that the conclusions reached in other European countries highlight the importance of researching how Maltese children are using the internet to be able to understand their needs. “Following the footsteps of these other European countries we can then refer to industry and policy makers to urgently address these needs,” she concluded.
For more information
The report “Towards a better internet for children” surveys the strategies used by industry to protect young users from online risk and examines whether there is evidence that these strategies work. The report is based on interviews with 25,000 children and parents across 25 European countries. For the full report, Towards a better internet for children by Sonia Livingstone, Kjartan Ólafsson, Brian O’Neill and Verónica Donoso, see the EU Kids Online project. www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20III/Reports/EUKidsOnlinereportfortheCEOCoalition.pdf
See Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., and Ólafsson, K. (2011). “Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children” Full findings. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. Other reports and technical survey details are at www.eukidsonline.net
The Coalition to make the Internet a better place for kids is a cooperative voluntary intervention launched in December 2011, supported by the European Commission. Read more about the coalition on: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/self_reg/index_en.htm