Supervision vital as children grow more ‘connected’

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KUCHING: Cybersecurity expert Kaspersky Lab highlighted that children now, spend more of their lives online as they grow up.

Therefore, it grows increasingly important to ensure that children are properly supervised when it comes to their online activities.

In a press statement, Kaspersky Lab said, children today spend more of their lives online than offline. As they grow older, offline activities tend to transfer to the online world, it added.

“Moreover, three-in-four children prefer to use the Internet to get information, rather than any other source. These findings show that children can become even more vulnerable online without parental supervision and support,” it pointed out.

Children stay close to their mobile devices all day, and even tend to sleep with them, so that they can go online around the clock from any location.

The research showed that four-in-ten are reluctant to put their smartphone down even during mealtimes.

Furthermore, it noted that 23 per cent of parents of eight to 10 year olds admitted that their kids take their mobile phones to bed with them and this number has grown to 41 per cent for parents of 11 to 13 year olds and it reaches 64 per cent for parents of 14 to 16 year olds.

“The Internet has deeply penetrated into children’s lives. It connects them to their friends and relatives, they use it to find information, for entertainment and consider it as a destination point when looking for the latest news.

“Practically all activities that are of interest to children – from social contacts, to games and movies etc. – are accessible online.

“The difference in usage among kids who are eight to 10 years old and those aged 14 to 16 years old can easily be tracked. The older they get, the more they “export” their offline activities to the online world.

“With the rise of social networks, the way people communicate to each other has changed significantly. Results of the research illustrate this pattern: almost half of the teenagers questioned (49 per cent) admitted that they would under no circumstances do without social networking, while only one fifth of kids aged eight to 10 years old made the same claim,” it said.

Andrei Mochola, head of Consumer Business at Kaspersky Lab, commented on this: “Our study has shown that as kids grow, they tend to switch from the physical world to the online world in almost every field of their lives. We see a clear trend that the older children get, the more their life depends on Internet access. In such circumstances, it is essential that parents explain to their kids that apart from all the positive things the Internet brings, there are also dangers that a child might not be able to recognise.

“Parental control programmes can protect kids from the information that is not suitable for them, and will notify parents about the online dangers their children may be facing online.

“It can of course be hard to explain to a child, especially taking into account that today’s kids are digital natives – they often think they know how to use the Internet better than their parents.

“Our society – especially parents – need to learn how to communicate online dangers to children in a relevant, but understandable manner.”

Janice Richardson, senior advisor at European Schoolnet stated, “The Internet is shaping the behavior of children and young people in wide-ranging aspects of their lives. It is the shared role of the family, school and the community in general, to help them use online tools and platforms responsibly and maintain a healthy life balance. It is important that online technology becomes an integral part of a child’s learning activities, whether at home or at school.

“More needs to be done to bring school education into line with the reality of today’s world, and to stop undermining the very important role that parents play in educating their children, despite not always being able to match their technical skills.”

The research has also shown that, the older children get, the more they move their communication with people from the offline to the online world.

Another significant part of children’s lives – education – also moves online as they grow. Kaspersky Lab observed that as children grow older, they become more willing to use the Internet to learn. It added that 26 per cent of eight to 10 year olds agreed that they study more online than offline, but for 14 to 16 year olds this number has grown to 39 per cent.

It noted that today’s information age sees teens turn online in search of the data they need: only 13 per cent said that they search for the things that interest them offline, while 49 per cent go online to get the answers to their questions.

“All in all, three-in-four kids (74 per cent) prefer to use the Internet to get information, rather than any other source,” it said.