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- telephone
- 01 662 4070
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- 01 611 4650
- address
- 2 Holles Street
Dublin
- 2 Holles Street
Support and resources for people who have experienced sexual abuse and/or sexual violence.
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More than one in 10 children have had sexually explicit conversations online, according to a report released in Britain yesterday.
More than one-quarter of 11- to 18-year-olds (28pc) have visited adult websites, while 11pc of the same age group had been involved in explicit chats.
The annual Mobile Life survey for the Carphone Warehouse found 27pc of young people had interacted with strangers online, and 10pc had met someone in person that they first met on the internet.
The poll of 6,000 adults and children in the UK and the US found one in seven UK children (14pc) admitted to having felt uncomfortable in online situations.
It revealed that half of UK children (49pc) lie to their parents about what they are doing online, often pretending to do homework when they are surfing the net or on social networking sites.
One in three (33pc) admitted they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were looking at online.
The study found a significant difference between what parents thought their children were doing online and the reality.
The majority of parents (87pc) believed they were fully aware of the content their children accessed online, while 86pc were confident their children would not do anything they disapproved of.
Most had not checked their children's online history, but 26pc of those who had found something they were unhappy with. One-tenth of parents said their children had reported worrying online incidents.
Despite parents' concerns about online safety, more than half (55pc) said the internet had vastly improved their life and access at home was as essential as a fridge or cooker.
TV psychologist Dr Tanya Byron said: "I think the key is for parents is to treat the issue of online safety in the same way that they would approach other potential danger areas.
"Would you let your children learn how to cross the road via trial and error? No. We must all learn and teach the Online Safety Code.'' Her suggestions include setting privacy settings on home computers, telling children never to give details to strangers and to limit personal data on social networking sites, and teaching how to report abuse or offensive material.
Josie Clarke
ŠIndependent.ie
