• Gerry White

Image: Ernst Vikne / flickr

11 November 2011Research in Australia has provided solid comparative information about the balance of opportunities and risks for children who use the internet, says Gerry White in this DERN research review.

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Research into children’s use of the internet with its attendant opportunities and risks has been the focus in Europe for the EU Kids Online project across 25 countries. Parallel research in Australia, modelled on the European project, has provided solid comparative information about the balance of opportunities and risks for children who use the internet, aged between 9 and 16 years of age.

The Australian report of a survey of children and their parents titled Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet: Full findings from the AU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents documented by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation and accessible through Australian Policy Online, detailed the initial findings from the survey and interviews of 400 children and one of their parents/carers, over the period Nov/Feb 2010-2011.

Australian 9-16 year old children are frequent internet users (96%) and access the internet through mobile devices (60%) more so than children in most other countries. They go online almost daily (76%) and do so at home and school, at a friend’s place (70%), in their bedrooms (56% girls and 38% boys) and ‘out and about’ (31%) (p. 7). Australian children go online for an average of 99 minutes per day and an increasing proportion (37%) have more than basic skills being able to bookmark websites, find safety information, block message and apply filters. However, more than half of the children suggested that they spent too much time on the internet and needed to spend more of their time with family and friends.

Consistent with research by other Australian bodies the top activity for Australian children using the internet is for schoolwork and educational activities (86%). Other internet activities include’ watching videos (85%), playing games (78%), emailing (67%) and social networking (63%)’ (p. 8) but ‘almost half of the cohort (45%) actively contribute their own media and distribute it to friends and family’ (p. 8).

Social networking sites are very popular with 65% of children having their own social networking site (SNS) profiles. Interestingly, the use of SNS profiles would appear to coincide with the start of secondary schooling, in the populous Australian states. Australian students have substantially more SNS contacts than European children (>50) and often find discussing issues about themselves easier online than face to face.

Parent mediation in Australia is common using methods such as discussing online activities (67%), monitoring and tracking, stipulating rules for internet use, staying nearby and applying restrictions. However, children reported that they received safety advice from teachers (83%), parents (75%) and their peers (32%), while ‘52% [said] that they also provided such advice’ (p. 10).

Increased internet use would appear to also increase online risk experiences with ‘30% of Australian children say[ing] that they have been bothered or upset by something online in the past year’ (p. 9). The online risks that were reported included children experiencing sexual images, bullying, sexual messages and engaging with people whom they had not met face to face. However, the differences between possible risks and actual harm or hurt that were made explicit in the report indicated that nasty or hurtful messages could be damaging to children. The report came to the conclusion that ‘Australia children are disproportionately likely to go online using a smart handheld device and it may be less likely to be effectively mediated by parents and others’ (p. 67).

This detailed and thorough report Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet: Full findings from the AU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents provides a sound basis for international comparisons of internet use by Australian children, the online risks that they may experience and the safety advice and support they receive from teachers, parents and peers. However, as the European studies of children's internet use has demonstrated, the ‘opportunities and risks go hand in hand’ (p. 59). That statement of opportunities and risks has now been demonstrated further, in the Australian context, by this exceptional Australian report.

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Read this research review on the DERN website.

Photo: Ernst Vikne / flickr