Do you know what your grandkids are watching?

03/04/2008

Whilst grandparents are now responsible for some 60% of childcare in the UK, many may find themselves out of their depth when faced with children spending in excess of 20 hours a week using sites such as bebo, Myspace, Facebook and YouTube.

 

In fact, according to new research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), many young people are effectively being ‘raised online’ - but how many child carers really know what they are doing?

The report entitled 'Behind the Screen: the Hidden Life of Youth' argues that it is essential for both the Government and internet companies to do more to protect young people from inappropriate content and to promote and enforce guidelines on the limits of acceptable behaviour.

Comments from the children themselves include: “My mum will ask sometimes ‘is it safe?’ but she doesn’t really know” (Girl, 16) “Everyone lies about their age ‘cos I think it’s like if you’re under 18, your profile gets set to private” (Girl, 15) “Restrictions stop you going on bad sites, like games sites and stuff, but if you take them off you can go on anything” (Boy, 14).

Kay Withers, the report author, said: “The internet offers great opportunities for young people, but with kids spending an ever increasing amount of time online child carers need to be reassured about what they are looking at. Government needs to make sure parents are aware of how they can support young people's positive online experiences, and more importantly internet companies need to take more responsibility for the content on their sites and promote acceptable behaviour.”

Four out of five 5 -15 year olds have access to the internet at home, and almost half of children aged 8 - 11 and eight out of ten aged 12 -15 have their own mobile phone. Two in five 8-11 year olds and over two-thirds of 12-15 year olds say they mostly use the internet on their own at home.

Although internet sites have community guidelines or acceptable use policies, they are not always properly enforced. On YouTube for example, a search for the term “happy slap” delivered 117 videos posted in the last week and “street fight” 312 videos. The most popular video on the website Pure Street Fight was called “Girl Beat Up In Street” - and had been viewed a frightening 1,349,046 times.

Fifty-seven percent of children have reported having come into contact with online porn - most of it accidentally such as in the form of pop-ups - and one in four had received pornographic spam. Although around half of all parents with internet access had some kind of blocking in place to stop their children viewing certain types of websites, in 2005 just seven percent of parents were aware that their child has received sexual comments through this form of media.

Unlike television programmes, internet content is not subject to any restrictions beyond general UK law (for instance, the Obscene Publications Act, Sexual Offences Act, and laws relating to race hatred, defamation and libel). No single Governing body in the UK has responsibility for guiding the UK Government’s response / approach to potentially harmful internet content, which was explicitly excluded from Ofcom’s remit under the UK’s Communications Act 2003.

And it's not restricted to the internet. Many children are ‘constantly connected’ - staying up to the early hours with their mobile phones on in case they receive a text message.

 

 

What are your views on web content - and what, if anything, can be done to restrict younger people's access to offensive material? email editorial@maturetimes.co.uk.