A safer Internet?

Hardly a day goes by without some tragic story about sexting, cyber-stalking, paedophile grooming or cyber-bullying hitting the news. As more and more children use mobile phones and access the Web, so the incidents rise proportionately. We wish it were not so. We would all love to see a free and open Web that everyone could use without any fear of abuse, bullying or blackmail. But with every new tool and technology comes a danger from a small but determined section of society who wish to bend their use, to exploit and to abuse for their own selfish purposes. No matter how hard we tried, we would never be able to completely eliminate nefarious use of the Web, but there are ways we can at least ameliorate the risk by protecting the younger members of our society from these dangers.

The statistics are shocking. According to a recent BBC survey of 3500 parents and children, only 8% of parents thought their children had seen something upsetting on the Internet. However, 15% of their children reported seeing something upsetting on their smart phones.  Only 41% used safeguarding or filtering software when using the Internet. By the age of 11 many children have already posted up their own YouTube videos, and may have set up fake accounts on sites that require them to be at least 13 years old. By the age of 13, some have tried sexting, and many are regularly using services such as Snapchat, Skype and Instagram. Many parents don't understand the capabilities of these sites.

Today is Safer Internet Day (#SID2014), when we celebrate good and appropriate uses of the Web, and share good advice on how to protect vulnerable users from those out there who would seek to harm them. There are two ways we can intervene. The first is technical, and this can be a challenge for some parents, especially those who know very little about how to use computers and mobile phones. There are websites that can help parents to understand the risks and dangers children can be exposed to. The EU sponsored Safer Internet Programme site for example, raises parents' awareness of the dangers of the Internet and offers advice on intervention they can take if they are concerned. Parents can, for example, enter the type and model of smartphone their children use, and the website will show them the controls and tools that are available to use on that particular handset, and how to turn off cameras or block certain sites. Another useful site is the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), which offers a similar service of advice and support. The BBC's Webwise site also has some great resources on Internet safety.

Putting a block on your teenager's phone though, is no guarantee of safety, because at least 38% of 11-16 year-old children in the survey claimed they knew how to remove parental blocks and reactivate functions.

A second and possibly more successful way to ensure better and safer use is to apply social intervention. Parents are encouraged to talk more to their children about their use of technology, and discuss with them the risks and potential dangers. Finding out what sites children visit online, who they talk with and what they talk about is useful information to help parents decide how to manage access to the Web. Schools too are playing their part in educating children into safer and more responsible use of technology. But parents and teachers - all of us - still  need to know more about the ways we can protect our children from the dangers that lurk on the Internet and show them how they can enjoy the Web in safety.

Photo by Joel Bombardier


A safer Internet? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.