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Young people being ‘raised online’
(26-03-08) - Spending more than 20 hours a week on the internet, many young people are effectively being “raised online”, warned the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The latest findings, to be published in full next month, are more than three times higher than previous official estimates.
The research found that “young people are ‘constantly connected’, staying up to the early hours with many leaving their mobile phones on all night in case they receive a text message”. But the IPPR said that “a lack of parental knowledge and understanding” leaves parents with little idea of what their children are doing online.
The report argues that the Government, ISPs and popular sites such as social networks Bebo and Facebook, need to do more to protect children and young people from inappropriate content, and to work to improve parents’ understanding of the internet.
Kay Withers, IPPR research fellow and report author, said: “The internet offers great benefits and opportunities for young people. But with kids spending an ever increasing amount of time online parents need to be reassured about what they are looking at.
“Government needs to improve media literacy programmes for kids and to make sure parents are aware of how they can support young people's positive online experiences.
“But more importantly internet companies need to take more responsibility for the content on their sites and promote acceptable behaviour,” she concluded.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Unfortunately many young people have more technical know-how than their parents. Improving your own computer literacy is a great way of not only protecting your children online, but also being able to interact with them too.
“Parental control software is essential for any household with children and young people. Some ISPs provide free parental control software as part of their packages, or you can buy it as part of your anti-virus package from McAfee or Norton.
“Parental controls allow you to block certain key words that could lead to inappropriate sites, as well as specific sites, and you can even select different levels of security for children of different ages,” he advised.
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