80% of parents/carers not protecting their children’s online access, according to Ofcom report

Ofcom yesterday published a report into their research into the access by young people to online content via mobile, gaming and portable media players, and the issues of safety and privacy . Nearly eight hundred interviews were conducted with 11-16 year olds and their parents/carers. You can access the full report here and a digest of it here.

The findings make interesting reading - well, if you find masses of stats interesting, and in this case I do. My children are as yet thankfully too young to go online by themselves, but I’m painfully aware that it’s going to a only a few years before I’m confronted by this problem.

According to this survey, a majority of parents/carers report their children aged 7-16 own or have use of a games console (90%) or mobile phone (74%). Access to a portable media player is considerably lower, at around one in eight (13%). Of ALL parents/carers interviewed (not just those whose children have their own handset/console):

• 9% of all parents/carers say their child uses a mobile phone to go online
• 19% of all parents/carers say their child uses a games console to go online
• 3% of all parents/carers say the same for portable media players

It appears quite reassuring in regard to the number of children who have been exposed to inappropriate content via their mobiles – only four percent, and that was all text/SMS/photo and video material: nothing via the mobile’s ‘gated’ portal. That’s actually quite an interesting low when compared to the recent survey by Beatbullying, which found that more than one-third of teens aged 11-18 have been sent offensive or distressing images electronically. And Ofcom’s findings were not much more alarming as regards games consoles – around five percent say they have been exposed to inappropriate material.

However, the report does appear to have exposed a substantial gap in knowledge of both children and parents. Of the children interviewed:

• 28% think they need security information; e.g. on how to keep passwords and PINs safe
• 22% want more information n how to avoid inappropriate content online
• 20% want more advice on how to deal with cyberbullying
• 23% say that no-one has talked to them about cyber safety
• Over 25% say they wouldn’t know what to do if they encountered ‘inappropriate material’ on their mobile phone or games console

Of parents and carers:

• 35% of those whose child uses a mobile to go online are aware of access controls on mobile phones and of those, over half have activated them
• 32% of those whose children use their consoles to go online are aware of access controls on games consoles and of those, over two thirds have activated them. Scarily (if I’ve got this right!), if you track those stats back rather loosely, that means that about 80% of parents and carers whose children use devices to go online HAVEN’T activated access controls on mobiles and consoles.

Additionally:

• 21% of parents/carers say they don’t know enough about how to help their child stay safe online
• 10% would like additional support, particularly when it comes to filters and controls set by games suppliers and internet service providers, as well as more information on how to set online controls or blocks

CEOP said last month that they have reached their target of presenting the Thinkuknow programme & Safer Internet Day initiative to a total of 4.5 million children. That’s really great, but knowing the response I get from my oldest when I ask him what he learned at school that day (“Dunno-can’t-remember-can–I-play-the-Wii?”), I’m thinking that it’s their grownups we really need to reach. How best to do that? Comments below welcomed...

To help them, Ofcom has today published two new guides for parents and carers on how to use parental controls on mobile phones, games consoles and portable media players and, if they need to, how to report inappropriate content. Parental controls for mobile phones and Parental controls for games consoles and portable media players.

There are also some other great resources online such as Kidsmart, Digizen and Beatbullying.

Additionally, On Wednesday 25 November 2009, CEOP is organising a course in London for professionals who work with young people on this very subject: “Children and the role of technology in sexualisation, addiction and bullying: a practical guide to protecting young people”. For more information on the conference please email education@ceop.gov.uk or visit http://www.ceop.police.uk/training