Four in 10 young internet users have addiction symptoms

FOUR out of 10 young Irish people who use the internet report symptoms of a mild form of addiction – a much higher number than in most other European countries.

And while far fewer 11 to 16- year-olds receive sexual messages and images while surfing than their continental cousins, Irish parents are much more likely not to know about it.

The study, carried out for Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes, found that children are going online at an ever -younger age, but more needs to be done to ensure it is safe, educational and age-appropriate.

Irish school children are among the least frequent users of the internet but 41% said they experienced symptoms fairly often or very often of excessive internet use – the fourth-highest among the countries surveyed.

These symptoms include:

- Surfing when they were not really interested;

- Spending less time than they should with friends, family or doing schoolwork;

- Failing when they tried to cut down on the amount of time they spent online;

- Feeling bothered when they cannot be on the internet;

- Going without eating or sleeping because of the internet.

Slightly more boys than girls suffer these symptoms, as do more 15 to 16-year-olds than those in the younger 11- to 12 -year-old bracket.

The country reporting the most problems was Estonia at 50% and the least was Italy at 14%.

Irish youngsters were less likely to have seen sexual images online, with 9% saying they had received sex images, compared with the average of 15%, while 3% of those surveyed admitted to sending sex messages.

But Irish parents were the least likely – after German parents – to know of their child’s experience.

At the same time, almost a third of youngsters who received them reported they had been upset by the incident – a higher percentage than average.

Irish children have fewer internet skills than many of a similar age in other countries and when set a series of tests, they came fifth-lowest, just ahead of Hungary, Italy, Romania and Turkey.

These skills included how to block messages, bookmark sites, find safety information, change privacy settings and determine whether websites were reliable.

Dr Brian O’Neill of Dublin Institute of Technology, who was involved with the Kids Online survey, said the study showed that children were younger than ever going online, and that the youngest found 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,” he said.

At the same time Irish users tended to be more savvy when using social networking sites and were more likely to ensure they had privacy settings and did not put phone numbers or addresses online, although many exaggerate their age.

About 4% – mostly older teens – arranged to meet someone they had ben introduced to on the internet, the majority being friends of friends or family. Three quarters of parents were not aware of these meetings: much higher than the EU average of 28%

In contrast to most other countries, their parents knew almost as much as them about the internet and used the net as seldom, the survey found.