More than half of parents feel unable to keep child safe online, survey finds
To Parents Their Parental Controls Protect Children Using Just Of Online 28% Reported
More than half of parents (52%) feel ill-equipped to teach their children how to stay safe online, while almost a quarter (24%) of six year olds have their own smartphone, a new survey has revealed.
The survey of 900 parents, carried out by Amárach on behalf of Ireland's online safety charity, CyberSafeKids, found more than 80% of parents believe it is their responsibility to keep their children safe online.
Almost one-third of the parents (29%) of children aged five-17 were extremely concerned about the risk of online grooming, while 26% expressed concerns about cyberbullying.
Access to pornography (25%), disturbing content relating to self-harming (25%) and addiction to social media (16%) were also cited by parents as concerns.
Just over one-fifth (21%) of all parents said their child had been purposely excluded from a group chat or an online event, while 18% said their child had been called offensive names online.
Just 20% of parents believe the benefits of the internet and social media outweigh the risks that are posed to children while online, it found.
Despite this, just 28% of parents reported using parental controls to protect their children online.
The survey also found supervision of internet access reduces with age and is lower during weekends and holiday times.
The majority (80%) of parents of children aged 11 with smartphones said their child's internet access was only sometimes or never supervised, while 45% of children aged 10 can use their smartphone in their bedrooms.
CyberSafeKids chief executive Alex Cooney said the survey identified a “worrying gap” between children’s access and their parents' ability to support them to be safe online.
“Parents need to be aware that the safety of any child with unrestricted and unsupervised access to smart devices is at risk. It’s alarming to find that children as young as five are being allowed to use smartphones alone in their bedroom,” she said.
Child and adolescent psychotherapist Debbie Cullinane said one of the most important jobs for parents is to keep their children safe — both offline and online.
“Knowledge is power and in today's digital age, establishing clear boundaries and empowering your child with appropriate information is imperative.
“By modelling positive behaviour, instilling core values and fostering open communication, we can navigate the online world together, to promote a safer online experience for our children and teenagers,” she said.
CyberSafeKids is calling on the Government for fundamental changes to keep children safer online, including a mandatory online safety education programme in schools so the conversation at home around risks and opportunities online is supported in schools and vice versa.
A new campaign launched in conjunction with the findings aims to highlight the need to approach parenting children online in the same way it is approached offline — emphasising the same parenting rules should be applied to both worlds.
“Our Same Rules Apply campaign seeks to support parents in approaching children’s online lives with the same care, attention and supervision that we apply to their offline lives,” said Ms Cooney.
The campaign, which is a collaboration with Accenture and Community Foundation Ireland, aims to arm parents with vital information and resources to enable children to have a safer and more positive experience online.
“While technology is exciting and offers huge possibilities in all areas of our lives, it’s important to make sure that children are educated on online safety, and that parents have support in steering their children through any online issues that may arise,” said Accenture security lead Jacky Fox.