Safer Internet Day serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing challenge to create an online world where children and young people feel safe, included and empowered.
As Children’s Commissioner, I have heard from thousands of children about their experiences of the online world: the impact the internet has on their lives, how social media is shaping their offline experiences and how much time they spend online.
Online safety is an issue that children consistently talk to me about. They worry about the ease with which they are able to access harmful or upsetting content, they worry that adults in charge aren’t taking their views seriously, and they are full of ideas of improving safeguarding. While the majority of children and young people I heard from in The Big Ambition survey said they felt safe online, far too many didn’t.
Some children’s experiences of the online world are shocking. Girls as young as nine have told my team about strangers asking for their home address online.
My research found that children are frequently exposed to a wide range of inappropriate and harmful content online, including sexualised and violent imagery, anonymous trolling, and material that promotes suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
What’s equally concerning is that this type of content stays online too long and is available too frequently, even when reported to platforms. While children will always be curious, most said they rarely sought out this content, but it was instead promoted to them via complex algorithms designed to capture and retain their attention.
It’s difficult to unpick the online world from the modern experience of childhood – social media and the internet are now an integral part of children’s lives. It was clear in The Big Ambition that children do not see a difference between their online and offline world. This is a digital native generation, one which has grown up online. They’ve never not known social media, smartphones and instant communication.
The internet has brought a world of benefits, with children and young people able to learn, play and explore online – but so much of this space where childhood is now spent is not designed with children’s safety, wellbeing or best interests in mind.
When I asked a group of young people what they wish their parents had known about the online world, they told me that they wanted adults in their lives to ask them about the content they were seeing. And, importantly, to keep checking in and asking even if they seem disinterested.
In The Big Ambition, children spoke of a desire for better protection in the online world, to be safer when they used it. They rightly expect to be kept safe online, just as they expect to be kept safe in their real-life communities.
That’s why this Safer Internet Day should serve as a reminder for parents and carers to speak to children about the risks of being online and any inappropriate content they might see online. It can be difficult, but as adults we need to set boundaries around the use of the internet and social media. Parents must also be alive to emerging risks and new technologies impacting children.
Government and tech companies have a role to play too. We all, children included, know online platforms are not taking their responsivities seriously enough, so I want to see greater urgency from those companies to keep children safe on their platforms from online harm.
Online platforms and tech companies need to do much more to ensure they are keeping young users safe online from the point of design, with child safety features built into apps and platforms – it cannot be an optional extra.
No child should ever see harmful content online at any age – let alone at primary school. Only when we work together can we make the online world a more positive space for young people.
