According to an international Norton Living Online report, 62 percent of kids between the age of eight to seventeen have had a negative online experience whether it is due to cyber bullying, accessing inappropriate content, providing sensitive personal information or loading computer viruses on their systems.
And the truth is that “peer pressure”, as it always has been, is influencing these kids to flout Facebook age restriction rules and sign up with the most popular social network, unbeknownst to their parents.
And while most 10-year olds want to be as cool as the 18-years olds who are constantly talking about happens on Facebook, this leads to them being more susceptible to cyber bullies or sexual predators in the form of pedophiles as well, according to police and teachers.
Since they don’t understand the impact of sharing important personal information online, despite lying about their ages, they obviously do not have a clue about the dangers and the negative experiences that lie in wait for them, as they go online.
And while it is most distressing that parents aren’t concerned about internet safety, and how it can impact their children, internet safety advocates and child psychologists consider this to be one of the most ‘unaddressed public health issues of our time’.
And so, internet safety can only be enforced by parents, in constantly monitoring the activities of their children when they are online, in heeding the warning of teachers and principals of schools as well as the police, all in the best interests of their children.