EU Kids Online (see www.eukidsonline.net)
A new project launched today [6th Feb 2007] promises to give a picture of children's internet use across Europe, reporting on all available research on use, risk and safety issues for children, young people and their families.
EU Kids Online is the first systematic European comparison of research on children and young people’s experience of the Internet and online technologies. It is funded by the EC Safer Internet Plus Programme.
Professor Sonia Livingstone, director of EU Kids Online, based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), said: “There is a growing body of research showing that the internet can be risky for children and teenagers, though it also has lots of benefits. Compared with other European countries, British parents are aware of this, but they still need more guidance, especially as they don’t always know what their children are up to and because the risks themselves are changing all the time.”
Dr Leslie Haddon, co-director of EU Kids Online at LSE, said: “In this project, we are collecting all the research findings across Europe on this important topic in one place, so we can begin to compare findings across countries. But so far, this makes it obvious that a lot more research is needed”.
What does the research show?
By comparing available research in 18 countries, over 200 separate projects have been identified and linked to a publicly searchable repository (see www.eukidsonline.net). This provides a new and valuable resource for researchers, policy makers and the public. Research highlights include:
The 2006 Eurobarometer survey shows large variation across countries:
* 18% European parents/carers believe their child (under 18) has encountered harmful or illegal content on the internet.
* British parents are less likely to believe this than parents in Denmark, the Netherlands or Sweden, or those in Poland or Slovenia – possibly those most advanced in and those newest to the internet have the greatest concerns.
* From comparing three very different countries, it seems British parents claim to regulate their children’s use of Internet more: 62% of UK parents have rules about not giving out personal information online, but only 35% of Polish parents and 14% of Portuguese parents do so.
* Paradoxically, UK parents also seem to have more confidence in their children: 75% thought that their children would know what to do if a situation on the Internet made them feel uncomfortable (figures for Poland and Portugal are 56% and 48%).
* Possibly, safety awareness raising efforts in the UK have been more effective than in some other countries, as these have been coordinated across multiple stakeholders (government, child protection, industry, parenting organisations, etc).
Further, the 2006 Mediappro project found internet use varies greatly across Europe:
* 50% of British children (aged 12-18) claim to use Instant messaging, rising to 73% in Belgium, 82% in Estonia and 88% in Poland.
* In Denmark, 7% of children claim to have a blog, while the figures for the UK and Poland are 14% and 18% respectively, rising to 35% in Belgium.
* School rules also differ: 57% of Danish children claim their schools have rules governing Internet use, compared to 73% of Polish children, and two thirds in the UK.
What don’t we know?
* We still don’t know whether differences in European children’s experiences reflect genuine variations in risk or, instead, differences in how risks are perceived by parents and others.
* There is almost no research on whether children and young people have been exposed to racist, violent or gory material, or to gambling or self-harm sites.
* However, the 2006 Irish Webwise survey of 9-16 year olds found 26% had visited hateful sites, 35% had visited pornographic sites, 23% had received unwanted sexual comments online, and 7% had met an online contact offline.
In the UK, there are grounds for concern:
* Ofcom’s 2006 research shows 16% 8-15 yr olds have come across something ‘nasty, worrying or frightening’ online.
* The UK Children Go Online project found in 2004 that 12-19 year olds who take communication risks online tend to be more likely to be risk-takers who are less satisfied with their lives offline.
In the USA, some risks are increasing:
* The Online Victimization of Youth report found increased exposure to sexual material among 10-17 year olds (34% compared with 25% in 2003) and online harassment (9% vs. 6% in 2003), though they also found reduced unwanted sexual solicitations (13% vs. 19%). In that survey, 4% had been asked for nude/sexually explicit photos of themselves online.
But maybe children are getting more ‘internet literate’:
* The SAFT survey in Norway and Ireland found that in 2006, children were more critical of the internet and gave out less personal information than in 2003.
* Directing more safety awareness at children themselves may be the best way forward, since parents often don’t know just what their children are doing online.
Background information
EU Kids Online is at http://www.eukidsonline/net. Countries included are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom.
The 2006 Mediappro project (which surveyed 7393 teens aged 12-18 in 9 countries), see http://www.mediappro.org/
The 2006 Eurobarometer survey (which surveyed 29,248 parents/carers in 28 countries), see http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/sip/eurobarometer/index_en.htm
Ofcom’s Media Literacy Audit of Children is at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/ml_audit/
The US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Report ‘Online Victimization of Youth, see http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC167.pdf
UK Children Go Online, see http://www.children-go-online.net/
SAFT, see http://www.saftonline.org
Webwise, see http://www.webwise.ie/
