RISK MANAGEMENT is a concept more often associated with finance than with adult oversight of internet usage by children. The hazards of the latter are obvious. And unless parents and teachers provide adequate supervision of the online activities of children, then they risk exposure to real dangers. These can range from easy access to unsuitable material, whether pornographic images or violent content; or they may involve unwelcome contact from online users and take the form of bullying or the abuse of personal information and privacy – an occasional feature of social networking websites.
Internet access for children must necessarily involve a proper balance between risk and reward: minimising the risk that children face online by ensuring their internet experience is safe, and benefits their personal development. But how best to achieve this balance remains a continuing concern of parents, teachers and policymakers. One way forward has been explored by the EU Kids online project, made up of research teams from 26 countries, including Ireland. Its purpose is to raise public awareness of how children use the internet and its aim is to promote a safer online environment for their use. To this end, it conducted a research survey of European children and parents examining their experiences online and their attitude to making the internet safer for children. The findings relating to Ireland offer much reassurance and a measure of concern.
The survey found that Irish children were less likely than those elsewhere to encounter some of the key risk factors online: pornography, bullying or meetings face- to-face with those first encountered on the internet. It also found that they were some of the most responsible users of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Social networking sites are among the fastest growing online activities. In addition, Irish children were least likely to make private information (address or phone number) available to other online users. The use of the internet for school work was identified as the top online activity, favoured by more than four out of five European respondents.
But the survey findings also showed that Irish children used the internet less than others. Therefore, they were less likely to encounter risk. But what could be a reluctance, or may well be a failure, to exploit more fully the opportunities and benefits that the internet and newtechnologies offer, must also be a matter of some concern in this age of greatly increased digital literacy.