New figures show kids as young as eight sharing personal information over the internet
CHILDREN as young as eight are still sharing too much personal information online, according to alarming new figures.
CHILDREN as young as eight are sharing their home address, phone number and surname on open social media platforms as experts call for mandatory education in schools to warn of the dangers of over-sharing online.
News Corp Australia has obtained exclusive new data from the Office of the Children’s E-Safety commissioner that shows kids are putting themselves at huge digital risk.
The Young and Social Online research shows 39 per cent of children as young as eight, who use social media, have shared their real surname on their accounts, 24 per cent have posted a photo of their school or school uniform and alarmingly 8 per cent have shared their phone number and/or street address.
Teens are also turning to more “dark social” platforms such as Snapchat which are providing a false sense of security that their information will be safe because it disappears after a certain defined time frame.
The research of 2278 teens and pre-teens conducted by the office of the Children’s E-Safety Commissioner and provided exclusively to News Corp Australia also showed Facebook is still proving to be the platform of choice for young people with 90 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds using the service on a regular basis.
An alarming 56 per cent of kids aged eight to 13 also say they are circumventing rules in place preventing children under 13 having a profile.
On average children aged eight to 13 say they have two active social media accounts, teens aged 14-17 report having three.
Most kids are becoming more aware of privacy settings, with 61 per cent of 8 to 17-year-olds on social media setting their main account to “private”.
However, nine per cent of social media users as young as eight say their main profile is public.
Children’s E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant told News Corp Australia there were real risks involved with children so young using social media.
“Revealing information like your phone number, street address or school details on social media can expose children to a range of risks they may not have the maturity, judgment or resilience to handle on their own,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“In the rare or worst case scenario, school details can also be used by online predators to find a child’s location, to befriend a child or trick them into believing they know them.”
Ms Inman Grant said parents should use every opportunity they can to talk to their kids about internet usage, particularly on days like Safer internet Day this Tuesday.
She also encouraged parents to ask their own children if it was OK to share images of them online to set the right example.
“As parents, we need to be modelling the behaviour that we are talking to our kids about,” she said.
“Just as we wouldn’t hand our children the keys to a car without teaching them the road rules, the same guidance needs to apply to handing over connected devices to children.
“Parents should familiarise themselves with the service their child is wanting to join and take into consideration the age requirements, their level of maturity and the types of people they will be interacting with.”
The latest data comes as experts call on federal and state governments to consider making privacy and digital literacy programs an integral part of the school curriculum to minimise the harm of online sharing.
Social media expert at the University of Technology Sydney, Dr Bhuva Narayan, said it was “scary” what children were sharing online but that removing access to the platforms was not the answer.
“Being part of the digital world is an expected thing now for children and teens. It’s not about removing access it’s about making their usage safer,” Dr Narayan said.
She said kids who shared their address, phone number or details of their school online were not only putting themselves at risk but their family and friends too.
“We know that domestic violence abusers regularly go online to try and track down their victims and there are a lot of unwell people on the internet,” Dr Narayan said.
She urged the federal and state governments to consider implementing mandatory privacy education and digital literacy programs in schools from an early age to teach kids about what is safe to share online.
“Unless we incorporate it into our education from an early age then children and teenagers are going to continue to make these mistakes online,” Dr Narayan said.
“It needs to be part of the normal school curriculum. Not just privacy education but digital literacy too.”
Matt Warren, Professor of cyber security and deputy director of Deakin University’s Centre for Cyber Security Research, echoed Dr Narayan’s call for privacy and digital literacy programs in schools.
“The earlier age the better really,” Professor Warren said.
“But you do have to be sensitive about how you frame such programs and talk to young children about the dangers of online sharing.”
Professor Warren also called on Facebook to do more to prevent children under 13 from having accounts on the site.
“There does need to be greater enforcement around this,” he said.
“Facebook has analytical technology and the power to investigate individual accounts but perhaps they are reluctant to do that because if they take that young person off Facebook they may lose them as a potential future client.”
Originally published as New figures show kids as young as eight sharing personal information over the internet
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