The Guardian
Thirty years ago, children were taught never to accept sweets from strangers, but the equivalent modern message, about staying safe online, doesn't seem to be getting through. For all its positives, the online world is full of potential hazards to young people. Sexting, bullying and sexual approaches from strangers are online dangers modern teenagers routinely face. And adults' knowledge of what young people are doing online is often vague and complacent.
Nearly half of British children now have online access in their bedrooms, while a quarter of 12- to 15-year-olds owns a tablet of their own. The number of this age group using smartphones to send, receive and post photos online has risen significantly in the past year, and Ofcom points out that children's online safety skills have failed to rise at the same rate, with particular risks coming from the lack of privacy on social networking sites. Most parents of five- to 15-year-olds believe they know enough about the internet to keep their children safe, but, according to research by internet security system McAfee in 2012, four-fifths of teenagers say they know how to hide their online behaviour from parents.
Some parents feel their only recourse is to restrict internet access, but James Diamond, of parenting and technology website Quib.ly, says: "A big reason that children don't tell parents about abuse is that the default reaction of parents is to take the internet away from them."
Internet safety needs to be taught, with specific ground rules and open communication between generations. Parents need to know that the dark side of the online world can't be avoided – if they have teenage children, it is almost certainly already in their lives.
Hours online a day Six
Online devices Smartphone, tablet, two laptops, desktop, Raspberry Pi, e-reader, feature phone
Age when first went online Nine
My internet access was monitored and controlled by my parents until I was 14 or so. But teenagers like to have a private life away from their parents, and parents don't necessarily know that they're on websites like ask.fm – and if they do, they're not entirely sure what goes on on them.
If anyone has a child with a moderate level of online popularity who has joined ask.fm, you can almost guarantee that they will have received an abusive message. Questions are posted publicly on your profile page, and you can reply to them, but the senders are anonymous. Most of my friends who have had Ask have received a question saying, "Why are you so ugly?" or, "When are you going to kill yourself?"
I've received some over time, too. They are pretty common, but I don't go on it much because I'm not a fan. People get abused for being, appearing, seeming, acting anything that's not "norm". Stuff like being gay. But there are also more intellectual questions, which I enjoy answering. Like: "Why in your opinion do some people move when they are nervous?"
If people get a lot of abuse, for some reason they seem to get even more. People go on their page, see they're getting abuse and join in. I've spoken to people my age who have admitted doing this. They say, "Oh, I was just being an idiot. I was just not very happy with myself, so I did it to other people."
They think if somebody else is more miserable than them, then they're not as miserable.
I know people who have been hospitalised by Ask. People already suffering from depression go on Ask and get questions saying, "Why don't you kill yourself, cut yourself?" It's affected them and they have actually ended up cutting themselves. In some cases, their parents found out; in others, they didn't. With one person, even when they went to hospital, their parents didn't know what had happened until a few weeks later.
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Thirty years ago, children were taught never to accept sweets from strangers, but the equivalent modern message, about staying safe online, doesn't seem to be getting through. For all its positives, the online world is full of potential hazards to young people. Sexting, bullying and sexual approaches from strangers are online dangers modern teenagers routinely face. And adults' knowledge of what young people are doing online is often vague and complacent.
Nearly half of British children now have online access in their bedrooms, while a quarter of 12- to 15-year-olds owns a tablet of their own. The number of this age group using smartphones to send, receive and post photos online has risen significantly in the past year, and Ofcom points out that children's online safety skills have failed to rise at the same rate, with particular risks coming from the lack of privacy on social networking sites. Most parents of five- to 15-year-olds believe they know enough about the internet to keep their children safe, but, according to research by internet security system McAfee in 2012, four-fifths of teenagers say they know how to hide their online behaviour from parents.
Some parents feel their only recourse is to restrict internet access, but James Diamond, of parenting and technology website Quib.ly, says: "A big reason that children don't tell parents about abuse is that the default reaction of parents is to take the internet away from them."
Internet safety needs to be taught, with specific ground rules and open communication between generations. Parents need to know that the dark side of the online world can't be avoided – if they have teenage children, it is almost certainly already in their lives.
Cal Davies, 16
From Kenilworth, WarwickshireHours online a day Six
Online devices Smartphone, tablet, two laptops, desktop, Raspberry Pi, e-reader, feature phone
Age when first went online Nine
My internet access was monitored and controlled by my parents until I was 14 or so. But teenagers like to have a private life away from their parents, and parents don't necessarily know that they're on websites like ask.fm – and if they do, they're not entirely sure what goes on on them.
If anyone has a child with a moderate level of online popularity who has joined ask.fm, you can almost guarantee that they will have received an abusive message. Questions are posted publicly on your profile page, and you can reply to them, but the senders are anonymous. Most of my friends who have had Ask have received a question saying, "Why are you so ugly?" or, "When are you going to kill yourself?"
I've received some over time, too. They are pretty common, but I don't go on it much because I'm not a fan. People get abused for being, appearing, seeming, acting anything that's not "norm". Stuff like being gay. But there are also more intellectual questions, which I enjoy answering. Like: "Why in your opinion do some people move when they are nervous?"
If people get a lot of abuse, for some reason they seem to get even more. People go on their page, see they're getting abuse and join in. I've spoken to people my age who have admitted doing this. They say, "Oh, I was just being an idiot. I was just not very happy with myself, so I did it to other people."
They think if somebody else is more miserable than them, then they're not as miserable.
I know people who have been hospitalised by Ask. People already suffering from depression go on Ask and get questions saying, "Why don't you kill yourself, cut yourself?" It's affected them and they have actually ended up cutting themselves. In some cases, their parents found out; in others, they didn't. With one person, even when they went to hospital, their parents didn't know what had happened until a few weeks later.
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