Children are experiencing real harm online — where's the urgency to address this?

There is simply not enough government funding allocated to addressing how we can support children and young people to be safe and smart online, writes Alex Cooney, CEO of CyberSafeKid

Our research shows 31% of primary school children can go online whenever they want, and 25% have experienced online bullying in the past year. File photo

CyberSafeKids has been reporting on children’s use of smart devices and their levels of access to the online world since we launched our education programme back in 2016. 

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this that our overall finding is that while access to technology brings opportunity for children, it is also damaging them. The US Surgeon General reiterated this in May citing the “profound risk of harm” to children’s mental health and wellbeing and called on society to take immediate action to protect children.