Parents unaware of online sex messages to kids

DESPITE Irish parents being among the strictest in the EU in supervising their children’s use of the internet, 10% of 11 to 16-year-olds received sexual messages online but less than a quarter of their parents knew about it.

Bullying, discussions about suicide and drugs, invitations to meet or send information and photographs of a sexual nature are all encountered by internet users, no matter how young, an EU survey has found.

Over a quarter of parents (27%) said they were not aware of these sexual messages while half contradicted their child and said it had not happened.

Responding to the survey Dr Brian O’Neill, a researcher at the Dublin Institute of Technology, said the findings show a high level of misunderstanding similar to other countries in Europe.

“A lack of parental awareness is understandable and parents should not be overly alarmed. A lot of it could be relatively innocent, we need to carry out further studies,” he said, adding that Ireland has the fourth lowest reports of ‘sexting’ in the EU.

However, 7% of the 15 to 16-year-olds who report seeing or receiving such messages, said it happens more than once a week while for most, it happens less than once a month. While more boys get such messages, girls tend to be more upset by them.

More than 90% of parents said they kept an eye on what their children were doing on the internet, most staying nearby when their younger children were online, while about a half said they spoke to their children about what they saw and did on the internet.

There has been a lot of public concern about children meeting people online and being drawn into an abusive relationship. Nearly a third of Irish youngsters have made contact online with someone they did not previously know.

The older they are, the more likely they are to do this, but overall, just 4% of nine to 16-year-olds have gone on to meet the person face to face and Irish kids are among the least likely to do so.

Mostly parents are not aware of this, though the report quoted one parent of a 15-year-old who said an older male had contacted her with a view to meeting.

While Irish young people spend most of their time watching video clips or playing internet games, just over half go online for school, which is much less than the 85% EU average.

The survey looked at content generated by others in the same age group and tried to assess whether it could be harmful. This varied from hate messages to talk about ways to be very thin such as anorexia, talk about or sharing experiences of drug taking, ways of physically harming themselves and ways of committing suicide.

Almost half the girls in the 14 to 16 age bracket reported seeing such potentially harmful content in the past 12 months. Overall a quarter of all those aged nine to 16 had seen such sites — slightly above the EU average.

One 14-year-old boy said that “the internet allows free speech and there is a lot of racist sites eg if I looked up nazi for a school project there may be sites crediting the nazis.”

A 15-year-old girl expressed her concern about seeing on the internet “things about death and how people kill themselves… some think its normal!! taking drugs.”

Irish children are also more likely to have suffered from some form of personal data misuse, such as having their password stolen or someone pretending to be them.

The parent of an 11-year-old girl reported that her daughter’s Bebo account was hacked into and a message saying “if you want some sexy time ring me” and a mobile number was given.

More than half the youngsters use the internet for an average of an hour a day, mostly to watch video clips, play internet games and get help with schoolwork.

But despite being online for much less time than their continental cousins, Irish youngsters are more likely to suffer a mild form of addiction, feeling unhappy about the length of time they are online and unable to just switch it off.

Four out of 10 reported symptoms of a mild form of addiction that included surfing when they were not really interested, spending less time with friends, family or doing schoolwork; unable to reduce the amount of time they spend online; going without food or sleep or feeling bothered when they were not on the internet.

Bullying, discussions about suicide and drugs, invitations to meet or send information and photographs of a sexual nature are all encountered by internet users, no matter how young.

lFor more go to www.eukidsonline.net.