Children At Risk Online

1
Children At Risk Online

• Survey Results for the PressOctober 9,
  2002Isabelle Michelet Prasena

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Survey Details

• Online survey conducted in Aug-Sept 2002
• Hosted on Bangkok Post website
• Links from several popular websites
• Promotion through posters and PRU events
• 557 usable data from children, youths, parents
  and teachers
  
• Use of Internet, webcams, games, emails, IM/ICQ,
  dating boards, chat-lines
  
• Virtual correspondents, friends and confidents
• Exposure to, and attitude towards pornography
• Awareness of dangers
• Shocking experiences with websites, chats,
  imposters on the Net, meetings of virtual
  friends
  
• Information, parental / teacher support and
  involvement

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Do You Know?

• The proportion of kids using online chat-lines
  that are approached by pedophiles?
  
• The proportion of kids aged 9 to 16 that have
  viewed pornography on the Internet?
  
• The proportion of kids subjected to sexual
  solicitation that tell their parents?
  
• How many of these names may lead you straight to
  pornographic websites if you make an Internet
  search on them? Disney, Action Man, Barbie,
  Pokemon, ESPN, Alice, My Little Pony
• How many sites existed in 2001 on the Internet
  about child pornography?
  
• How much is spent every year on pornographic
  sites with pay access on the Internet?

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They Dont !

• One out of five kids using online chat-lines are
  approached by pedophiles
  
• Awareness among all groups 14 to 21
• Nine out of ten kids aged 9 to 16 have viewed
  pornography on the Internet
  
• Awareness among all groups 12 to 26
• 25 of kids subjected to sexual solicitation tell
  their parents
  
• Awareness among parents 64
• All these names may lead you straight to
  pornographic websites if you make an Internet
  search on them Disney, Action Man, Barbie,
  Pokemon, ESPN, Alice, My Little Pony
• Awareness among all groups 5 to 22
• 100,000 sites existed in 2001 on the Internet
  about child pornography
  
• Awareness among teachers and parents 33 to 35
• 100 billion THB are spent every year on
  pornographic sites with pay access on the
  Internet
  
• Awareness among teachers and parents 15 to 21

5
Use of Internet

• 58 of children and 90 of youths use the
  Internet frequently or daily, but 85 and 87
  have had no user training
  
• 61 of children and 80 of youths use the
  Internet at home, but 39 and 80 do it most of
  the time alone
  
• 70 of children and 82 of youths use the
  Internet for work, while 81 and 97 use it for
  fun
  
• The older they get, the more frequently they use
  it for both purposes
  
• Parents and teachers estimations are quite close
  to childrens actual practice, but they largely
  under-estimate youths practice on all points

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Use of Online Tools

• What children do more
• Online games 84 of children (vs. 73 of youths)
  are familiar with, and play online games
  
• Webcams 21 of children (vs. 18 of youths) use
  webcams. 23 (vs. 17) believe that to record
  oneself and share such records is fun. 22
  (vs.6) have actually recorded themselves
• What youths do more
• Email 95 of youths (vs. 50 of children) use
  emails
  
• IM/ICQ 75 of youths (vs. 24 of children) use
  IM/ICQ
  
• Online chats 69 of youths (vs. 48 of children)
  use online chats.
  
• Only 5 (vs. 30) have never been in any
  chat-room
  
• Most go to chat-rooms that focus on specific
  topics that interest them. The older they get,
  the more they prefer general chat-rooms where
  kids can meet
• 45 of the youths and 53 of the children who use
  online chats, go to private chat-rooms
  
• Dating boards 30 of youths have been in a
  dating board. 13 have posted their personal
  details on at least one dating board.

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Virtual Friends

• 50 of children and 91 of youths have virtual
  correspondents
  
• 39 of children and 75 of youths have virtual
  friends
  
• Most of the time, they speak about mundane
  matters of daily life, but 32 and 10 of those
  who have virtual friends talk about subjects they
  cannot talk about in real life
• 27 of children and 55 of youths have virtual
  confidents
  
• They talk about intimate matters mostly because
  anonymity makes them feel free, but 26 and 45
  of those who have confidents feel that it is the
  only way they can talk about taboo subjects
• 21 of children and 52 of youths have shared
  personal details with their virtual friends
  
• 8 and 16 of them realized that their personal
  details had been distributed without their
  authorization, most often with terrible
  consequences for them
• 31 and 45 of them realize that their personal
  details may be / have been distributed without
  their authorization

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Exposure to Pornography

• 30 of children and 52 of youths have no problem
  with the idea of trading naked pictures of movie
  stars on the Net
  
• 9 and 28 insist it should not be somebody they
  know personally
  
• 71 of youths have visited a pornographic website
  at least once, 45 are repeated visitors
  
• 73 of them have suffered from inconvenient
  consequences
  
• 92 of children and youths who use online chats
  have been invited to speak about sex
  
• Most change subject, correspondent or chat-line.
  17 actually pursue the discussion thinking the
  risk is minimal. Only 8 were discouraged from
  using chat-lines altogether.

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Shocking Experiences 1

• On websites
• 43 of children and 63 of youths have stumbled
  upon websites that shocked them
  
• Mostly because of ugly pictures, nude pictures
  or bad language
  
• On chat-lines
• 20 of the children and 55 of the youths who use
  chat-lines have had shocking experiences there
  
• Mostly because of bad language, proposition to
  send sex or violent materials, or invitation to
  have sex
  
• With supposed virtual friends
• Most children and youths realize that their
  virtual friends could be imposters, but they find
  it rather exciting or they do not really care
  
• 46 of the children and 47 of the youths who
  have virtual friends have discovered that at
  least one of them was an imposter

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Shocking Experiences 2

• When meeting virtual friends
• 24 of children and 37 of youths have met in
  person someone they got acquainted with through
  the Internet. Another 42 and 12 have not done
  it yet but would like to.
• 25 and 54 of those who have met virtual friends
  were alone during the first meeting
  
• For 58 and 46, this first meeting was a
  surprise. For 25 and 32, it was a shock.
  
• Around 25 of children talk to their parents
  about the shocking experiences they had But
  they much prefer to talk to their friends, or
  keep it a secret (25). 0 talk to their
  teachers.
• Very few youths talk to their parents, and none
  talk to their teachers about the shocking
  experiences they had They talk to their friends
  or keep it a secret (33).

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Parental and Teacher Support

• 85 of children and youths claim to have received
  explanations on the dangers of Internet, and 90
  of them say they have been explained the
  Internets Code of Conduct But explanations
  come mostly from other sources than parents and
  teachers
• 64 of children and 36 of youths admit they have
  never read a brochure or visited a site about the
  dangers of Internet
  
• 46 of children and 84 of youths have been given
  no guidelines or rules to use the Internet
  
• 44 of children and 67 of youths have screening
  software installed on their computer, but half of
  them stress that they can easily by-pass it
  
• Only 30 of children and youths perceive their
  parents as providing them with active support in
  their use of Internet
  
• Only 23 of children and 17 of youths perceive
  their teachers as providing them with active
  support in the use of Internet
  
• According to the participants, 88 of childrens
  schools and 96 of youths schools encourage the
  use of Internet, but only 21 and 49 make it a
  requirement
• Children and youths mostly perceive adult
  involvement in their use of Internet as irregular
  and reactive (44) or even inexistent (38 and
  44)

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For More

• For more information on the survey findings
• Read the press release and fact sheet provided to
  you
  
• Contact Isabelle Michelet at imichelet_at_prasena.com
  
  
• Thank you