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Safer Internet Day: Cyberbullying tops child online safety concerns

by ITU News

In a world where the Internet permeates nearly every facet of life, keeping children and youth safe online has become increasingly pressing for parents, teachers and caregivers everywhere.

This is partly because young people spend more time online than the rest of us. In 2020,  they were  24 per cent more likely to connect to the Internet than the rest of the population. An estimated 71 per cent of those aged between 15 and 24 use the Internet, compared to just 57 per cent in other age groups, according to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) data.

Another reason has to do with the evolution of the Internet itself – and with it, the emergence of new threats that can jeopardize the safety of children and young people.

In the run-up to Safer Internet Day on 8 February, ITU’s followers on Twitter and LinkedIn were asked what concerned them most about children being active online.

Specifically, respondents ranked three common online fears: cyberbullying, data protection lapses, and the threat of grooming, whereby abusers deliberately exploit children online.

The results

Cyberbullying came out as the top concern, with around 40 per cent of the vote among respondents on both social media channels.

According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, a third of the world’s youth experience bullying in some form.

As children become increasingly exposed to digital environments, cyberbullying is growing concern.

The problem inspired TIME’s first-ever Kid of the Year, Gitanjali Rao, to conceptualize Kindly, a digital solution that uses an open-source API (application programming interface) and machine learning to detect instances – and implicitly, the intent – of cyberbullying in text messages. Children receive instantaneous feedback on whether their text is toxic, enabling them to reconsider and modify what they’ve typed.

To global children’s aid organization UNICEF, the solution offers great potential to encourage more positive online behaviour. The United Nations agency aims to develop Kindly further as a Digital Public Good.

Multiple concerns

Though cyberbullying was the top worry, it was not the only one on respondents’ minds. Some raised other fears about child online protection that were not featured in the poll, including the risk of excess screentime on digital devices or on the Internet itself, or whether children are aware of reporting mechanisms for online threats.

“Children and parents might not be aware that kids could face threats, [or know] how to avoid threats,” replied one commenter. “They should know they can report suspicious activity and how to report. There should be continuous capacity building to act smartly in how to respond but also on what they post.”

Another expressed concerns about content:

“Parents are oblivious to or not in control of the content their children are digesting, which may challenge and undermine the parents’ choices for their children’s development and upbringing based on cultural norms and beliefs.”

Another commenter asked: “Are children equipped to protect their privacy?” Yet another voiced fears of children obtaining access to content that could help them construct weapons on their own.

Together for a better Internet

ITU’s Child Online Protection programme plans to respond to these concerns with different resources, including a game for younger children, an app for teenagers, and training for children, young people, parents, carers, and educators.

These resources aim to help raising awareness and build capacity and skills for children and their loved ones to prevent, report and respond to potential online harm.

If you share these concerns about making the Internet a safer place for the children in your life, here are five actions you can take today:

  • Read the ITU Child Online Protection Guidelines and share them with other parents, teachers and caregivers.
  • Watch the Online Safety with Sango series of animated videos with your younger kids.
  • Get inspired by the stories of Hanna, Katalin and Éva, each working to keep children safe in their own language: Hungarian.
  • Have an open and honest conversation with your older kids and teens about their interests and challenges online.
  • Check the Safer Internet Day map to find out what’s happening near you to mark the day.

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