Kingston University
and Centre
for Abuse and Trauma Studies
support
Safer Internet Day
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
"Internet is more than a game, it's your life!"
Tips from the European Commission
Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive to promote a safer Internet for children and young people. This event organized by INSAFE and supported by the European Union through the Safer Internet Programme has been celebrated since 2004 in a growing number of countries. Children are going online younger than ever, with half of them using the web for an average of one and a half hours every day, according to an EU-wide survey. The survey also showed that many children feel more at ease or found it easier to express their personalities in the online environment than in "real life". Therefore the theme of the 8th edition of Safer Internet Day is aiming at making children and teenagers realize that actions in the virtual world can have an impact in their real lives and that although one's real identity is hidden behind an avatar or a nickname, one should match their online and offline behaviour.
At the same time, this theme aims at raising awareness among children, teachers and parents about the challenges related to their privacy, reputation and health, that youngsters may come across online and present them with solutions to cope with these challenges.
Safer Internet Day webpage
Internet safety tips
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Internet Safety Code
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Key Findings from our research:
Exploring Online Behaviour Amongst Young People
Exploration of Young People’s Internet Safety Knowledge and Evaluation of CEOP ThinkUknow Internet Safety Programme – Davidson, Grove-Hills, Lorenz & Martellozzo (2010), Centre of Abuse and Trauma Studies, Kingston University, March 2010. Funded by the National Audit Office and CEOP.
Key Findings
- One in five young people have received a ‘threatening’ experience online described as being made to feel uncomfortable or online peer bullying. However boys are twice as likely as girls to do nothing in reaction to such experiences.
- Young people report that the most common source of online safety advice is parents/relatives and schools, and they are generally aware of what they should do in response to a threatening online situation.
- Encouragingly the survey and focus groups found that those young people who have had ThinkUknow (TUK) training were more likely to say they would report abuse online via ThinkUknow or Childline.
- Young people who have had some safety advice in the past two years are slightly less likely to share personal details with strangers.
- A substantial proportion of children reported having engaged risk taking behaviour online (defined by degree to which they share information with strangers):
- 37% had provided an email address ;
- 34% had provided information about the school attended;
- 23% mobile number
- 26% personal photograph
- 36% said Internet safety training would make them more careful online
- However focus group findings indicate that interacting with strangers (i.e. adding them as ISM or Facebook friends, exchanging messages and providing personal information) is becoming an accepted behaviour not perceived as ‘risk-taking‘ by young people.
- The tendency to provide personal information increased with age, the 13-15 age group were the most likely to do this
Description: The aim of the research was to explore young people’s understanding and awareness of Internet safety and online behaviour, and to explore the effectiveness of the CEOP ThinkUknow (TUK) Internet safety programme. The programme aims to raise awareness amongst children and young people about the dangers they may encounter online, particularly from online groomers, and provides a resource for teachers and parents for use with pupils. The study incorporated two stages: a qualitative element which included 21 focus groups with 84 young people (49 girls and 35 boys) in schools throughout the UK who had received Internet safety training. The second element, commissioned by the National Audit Office, involved a large, random survey of 1718 young people across the UK aged 11-16 making this one of the largest, recent studies of young people and Internet safety in the UK. The study also included 11 face-to-face and telephone interviews with teachers.
Link to report: http://www.cats-rp.org.uk/projects.htm
Contact: Research Director Professor Julia Davidson j.davidson@kingston.ac.uk
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