EU Kids Online has published the initial findings of new empirical research into the experiences and practices of European children and parents regarding risky and safer use of the Internet and online technologies.
The good news for parents and educators here isa that children in Ireland are amongst the most responsible users of social networking websites.
They are the least likely to publish their address or phone number on their profile (7% versus an EU average of 14%) and most likely to have a private profile (11% versus 29%).
Across the EU the use of the Internet for school work is the top online activity (84%), followed by watching video clips (83%), playing games (74%), and communicating (e.g. instant messaging, 61%) are the next most popular types of online activity.
In general, children in Ireland are less likely to encounter key risk factors – pornography, bullying, sending/receiving sexual messages, going to meetings with contacts first met online – than most of their counterparts abroad. Children in Ireland are ranked 21 of 23 for children who have seen sexual images online in the last 12 months (IE 9%).
Irish children also ranked 21st of 23 for those who had been bullied online in the last 12 months (4%).
Commentnig on the figures, Simon Grehan of the National Centre for Technology in Education said: “We need to strike a greater balance between empowerment and protection of our children.
“We should be careful not to overstate the potential for harm of the Internet. Unbalanced headlines and self-serving statements by vested interests have contributed to the climate of anxiety that surrounds new technology and created a fiercely polarised debate in which panic and fear often drown out evidence.
“This moral hysteria can lead to children being denied the opportunities so obviously afforded by these new technologies.”
Brian O’Neill, Dublin Institute of Technology, added: “This study shows children are going online younger than ever before and that the youngest children are those who find it hardest to cope with upsetting online experiences. This is the area where schools, parents, government and industry need to work together to protect and educate.”
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