Comment for Safer Internet Day:

“Why are we even letting younger kids have smart phones when they are clearly not safe? (and when Ofsted chief inspector recently said that primary and early secondary age children shouldn’t have smart phones). What’s more, the tech companies are continuing to make billions from this attention (addiction) economy. The online safety bill, while it has great intentions will a. not come into effect immediately and b. won’t deal with issues of peer-to-peer sexting, scamming, grooming and addiction. If we can’t rely on legislation, or the tech companies taking responsibility, safer internet day can only mean educating parents in order to empower them. They are at the front line of being consistently pressured to buy their kids devices, then struggling to protect them. Once parents start changing their minds about what’s acceptable, the culture around kids and tech can change.”

Survey reveals parents are losing control over what their kids are seeing and doing online

A YouGov poll, commissioned by Teched Off, of more than 1,000 parents reveals that the vast majority (78%) aren't fully confident they've set adequate controls on their children's devices. A further 11% haven't set any controls at all.

A parallel study by Teched Off* found that:

• 80% of parents are worried their child/children is/are addicted to a device
• 80% of parents are worried about what their child/children is/are doing or seeing online
• 85% of parents believe their child's/children’s tech use sometimes interferes with family life
• Of the parents who haven’t set controls, 38% haven’t done so because they find them too confusing

In short, there are lot of children out there still seeing (and sharing) all the wrong things. Children are roaming the wild west of the online world, and parents are rightly worried.

The ill effects range from negatively impacting schoolwork and concentration, to dopamine-related addiction, premature sexualisation, online bullying, damaging attitudes to the opposite sex, negative self-image leading to self-harming, risk of exploitation by sexual predators, risk of exploitation by scammers, risk of radicalisation and so on. Young people’s mental health has been dubbed ‘an epidemic.’ (See teched-off.com)

Even if the Online Safety Bill succeeds in protecting children from the worst content, it won’t be immediate – or necessarily watertight. Legislation moves slowly and won’t necessarily deal with all the issues above, and we can’t expect the tech companies to take full responsibility – so parents need to know what their children are seeing and doing online.

As founder Miranda Wilson says ‘We’ve let tech organisations monetise our children’s attention and our children are paying a profound price. TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat and YouTube revenues are all in the billions in no small part thanks to us parents losing control.’

Miranda Wilson, Founder of Teched Off

Viewpoints

Posted On Monday, 06 February 2023 19:20

Not-for-profit initiative pledges to keep the Capital’s small business community safe

Wimbledon-based cyber security and risk management experts Policy Monitor has joined the Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) for London as a Founding Member of its Cyber Essentials Partner scheme.  Working with the Mayor’s office for Policing and Crime, the CRC for London is part of a network of 9 regional centres across the country whose role is to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and third sector organisations to reduce their vulnerability to cybercrime.  As a Founding Member of CRC’s Cyber Essentials Partner scheme, Policy Monitor joins a team of experts who are dedicated to helping businesses in the Capital ensure compliance with the Government-backed Cyber Essentials programme.

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Industry News

Posted On Thursday, 26 January 2023 21:22

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