One in 12 kids face exposure to online porn

One in 12 Irish children are at risk of online exposure to sexual material or pornography, research has found.

This is one of the lowest risk levels in the EU, largely due to restrictions on online use at home. However, parental protection of internet activity could also limit children’s opportunities for learning and other benefits.

The EU Kids Online survey measured internet use among 25,000 children aged nine to 16 and found that youngsters here are much more at risk of any harm from sexual content than they are from being bullied or from giving away personal data online. The 8% facing sexual risks compares well with the European average of 11%, and much higher risks in Scandinavian countries, for example.

“Levels of sexual risk reported by Irish children are relatively low though, interestingly, marginally higher than the UK where a debate now rages about the harmful impact of online porn on young people,” said Brian O’Neill of Dublin Institute of Technology, who oversaw the survey in Ireland.

Earlier this week, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said EU law prevents him from forcing internet service providers here to block access to pornography. However, he is willing to consider following the path of Britain, where new customers will have blocks on pornographic material to their computers set automatically by the end of this year, although they will have the choice of switching off these family-friendly filters.

Ireland was in a large group of countries where children are described as being protected by restrictions. However, the tendency of parents in these countries — including most of the largest and the main western and southern European states — to highly protect their children significantly reduces their online opportunities.

“Children’s online experiences in this cluster of countries is characterised by relatively low levels of risk, probably because internet use is also more limited, largely restricted to practical activities,” the report said. “While parents might be glad that their restrictive mediation prevents risk, it does seem that they may miss out on many of the online opportunities.”

However, Ireland stands out as having the highest group of young people classed as “young networkers”, who have slightly above-average internet use, particularly for communication and networking activities but much less than in other countries for schoolwork and other learning activities.

Almost half of Irish children are in this category, nearly three times the proportion across all European countries.

Just 4% of children here are classed as intensive gamers — those who spend around three hours a day online on mostly gaming rather than learning or creative activities — which is one-third the EU average.

Protecting your children from online risks:

* Ensure they are able to maximise their enjoyment of the internet in the safest possible manner, by engaging with them

* Learn more about what your children do online; ask them to show you, or teach yourself, how to use the systems they use.

* Explain the potential dangers, encourage them to talk to you if they are having difficulties, or any problems with other internet users.

* Set guidelines on when the internet can be used, for how long, and the kind of information they should give out.

* Encourage them to treat other users with the same level of respect they want people to show them.

* Use filtering, blocking, parental control, and other systems available to help protect children from inappropriate or obscene content.

* Keep computers where you can see them and keep an eye on the sites they visit

* Report any suspected online child abuse immediately to www.hotline.ie From: www.internetsafety.ie