Under 10s are being exposed to porn

Tuesday 31 January 2023

An internet safety expert who advises the States, schools and other bodies, has warned that children in Guernsey are being exposed to pornograpic content online from a very young age.

Matthew Parker volunteers for Safe and Secure Online which provides online safety lessons for children and their parents and carers.

He said national news reports stating that children as young as nine are being exposed to online pornography is not something which the Channel Islands are immune to.

"It is very clear from the sessions I do and from what I hear from other professionals, children in Guernsey are being exposed to this kind of content as young as primary school age," said Mr Parker.

Pictured: The BBC has reported the findings of a national study today.

Those reports, including in-depth coverage by the BBC, are based on a new study for the Children's Commissioner in England which included a 'nationally representative study of more than 1,000 16-21-year-olds'.

That study found that more than 38% had found pornographic material online accidentally.

Examples were given in the national reports of children as young as eight who had put words into a search engine that then led them to explicit adult material. That boy's parents had removed apps such as YouTube and had put safety features in place.

Mr Parker said unfortunately those safety features are rarely enough to protect our children.

"All parents and carers need to understand the potential risks of allowing children onto the internet whether that is via an app or with a web browser," he said.

Pictured: Matthew Parker is a volunteer with Safe and Secure Online.

"We cannot expect that our children will not come across inappropriate content due solely to the efforts of service providers. They absolutely do have a part to play but technology is so fast moving and challenging, ensuring that content is managed appropriately should be a multi-level approach."

This week, the UK government is due to debate a new Online Safety Bill with some MPs and peers for higher age restrictions on social media sites.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has echoed calls for stronger measures to protect children online.

Mr Parker said it will never be solely down to any site and app managers to ensure children don't access explicit material though.

"Filtering on the end device, filtering on the network connection, conversations about appropriate usage and support for when things happen are all steps that should be taken to help protect our children. But is there a silver bullet? I am yet to be convinced that holding these digital firms more accountable will resolve these issues, there is always a way around controls.  

Pictured: Parents and carers can't just rely on the website or app providers to keep children safe, warns Matthew Parker, and online safety expert.

"Parents and carers need to do their homework, engage with their children, and have age-appropriate conversations about content, relationships and what to do if they stumble across something, or indeed get something sent directly to them.

"As uncomfortable as this might be, it is very much required."

Numerous organisations offer advice for child safety online. Most of that advice is found on their individual websites. 

The NSPCC says: "Together we can make sure it’s safe for every child to go online. We’re here to support parents with online safety advice, and we’re here for children – to protect them and help them recover from abuse."

The Island Safeguarding Children Partnership advises the use of a service called Think U Know which helps young people with internet safety, relationships, and online abuse.

Read more...

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