LODDON MALLEE - Cyber Safe Kids

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is brought to bear on and taught explicitly in the context of exposure to online material and activities. As a society we need to become more aware and actively demand censorship of images on general public display – i.e. road injuries, animal cruelty, dead bodies and replays of violence not only on internet news homepages but also TV news during “family viewing hour.” With increased exposure we desensitise children and young people to horrific images/information and violence. Desensitisation leads to an increased acceptance of such images, behaviours and actions as normal and decreased likelihood of actively rejecting the behaviours. Further, research shows that desensitisation leads to an increase in pro-violence attitudes and lower empathy for victims (Funk et al., 2004). MEETING FRIENDS ONLINE Forty six percent of grade 4-6 students and 64% of year 7-10 students have met new people online that they do not know in real-life: most commonly this was through online games for grades 4 to year 8 students and via social networking for the older students. Students communicated with online friends via email, social networking, MSN/IM and text from mobiles. This suggests that a number of students have given out further personal contact information to their new online friends. Twelve students in grade 4-6 reported being asked to meet online friends, and 10 indicated that they had done this (3.5% of the total grade 4-6 sample). The frequency of meeting online friends in real life was higher for students in year 7-10, with 44% of those with online friends being asked to meet them in real life and 26 students reporting that they had (20% of the total year 7-10 sample). High school students were asked “what it was like meeting an online friend in real life” and the open ended responses suggested that many students had met up with online gaming friends at a recent gaming convention and that this was a positive experience. One student reported having a subsequent relationship with an online friend in real life, and one reported the meeting was “not very comforting”. Overall, whilst a significant number of young people have online friends that they do not know in real life and a proportion of them have gone on to meet these “friends” it appears for the most part this meeting has been in a public and relatively safe environment (e.g. an online gaming convention). Online friendships are the reality of a connected world for children and young people as they live significant parts of their lives online. One of the main things young people report enjoying about social networking is meeting new people (ACMA, 2009). Further, the greater adult community is role-modelling meeting romantic interests online as online introduction/dating services proliferate and advertise during prime time television hours. 62 LMCP Bendigo Region Report
RECOMMENDATIONS: It is critical therefore, that “online friendships” are included in a positive and engaging manner in social skills curriculum in Bendigo schools given the frequency of such friendships reported by Bendigo students. Raising young people‟s consciousness about the positives and negatives of online and offline friendships and the experiential differences of the friendships will assist them to remain emotionally and physically well in both online and offline friendships. COMPULSIVE INTERNET USE AND “INTERNET ADDICTION” The results from the compulsive use questions were surprising, particularly for the younger group. Over 65% of the sample felt bored when they could not be on the internet, and a reasonable proportion (32.8%) felt they were missing out on something important when they could not be on the internet. More than half the students in grade 4 to year 8 reported that they “sometimes or always” experienced two or more of the following feelings or behaviours: think about the internet a lot when away from it, spend longer than should or allowed to, check messages all the time, think they should spend less time on the internet, are on it when they should be sleeping, and lose track of time on the internet. These data suggest that the grade 4 to year 8 students in this survey sometimes struggle to manage the negative feelings they experience when they cannot be on the internet and find it difficult to self-limit their time on the internet. For the older sample, 3.5% of students in year 9-11 qualified for “internet addiction.” These students reported that they “frequently” experienced 5 or more out of the 8 symptoms of “internet addiction” proposed by international researchers and modelled on general addiction criteria. This result is similar to a recent large Tasmanian study of “internet addiction” in which Thomas and Martin (2010) found rates in high school students to be 5.2%. The most frequently reported symptoms were staying online longer than intended, risking relationship, social or educational opportunities and repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut down. Thomas and Martin (2010) also found the most common symptom to be staying online longer than intended. Interestingly parents and teachers seem to be aware that children and young people often struggle with feeling compelled to be online: 55% of parents and 80% of teachers surveyed reported that they were concerned about “internet addiction” and in the open ended questions parents responded that they are concerned that the internet is addictive and that children waste considerable amounts of time online. Anecdotally, Bendigo region parents have reflected they experience difficulties in detecting “internet addiction” and wish to know the symptoms or signs that they should be vigilant for (R.Treyvaud, personal communication, 1 st September, 2010). Overall the results regarding compulsive internet use suggest that the students in this sample struggle with limiting the negative impact of their online activities in terms of time management, reduction of time for other activities, and feel somewhat out of control in 63 LMCP Bendigo Region Report
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ISBN: [978-0-9808654-0-0] Citation
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cybersafe Su
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Many young people reported being ex
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Messages from students regarding th
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INTRODUCTION The internet and other
Page 12 and 13: For both parents and teachers, a co
Page 14 and 15: RESULTS RESPONSE RATES STUDENT RESP
Page 16 and 17: STUDENT SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS The gen
Page 18 and 19: Figure 3. Activities on the interne
Page 20 and 21: Figure 6. Percentage of year 9-10 s
Page 22 and 23: Figure 8. Percentage of grade 4-6 s
Page 24 and 25: When asked if they knew how to get
Page 26 and 27: Table 4. What best describes your o
Page 28 and 29: INDICATORS OF COMPULSIVE USE Possib
Page 30 and 31: ONLINE HARASSMENT Students were ask
Page 32 and 33: To understand the online harassment
Page 34 and 35: Table 12. Frequency of types of onl
Page 36 and 37: UNDERSTANDING LAWS REGARDING THE IN
Page 38 and 39: On a positive note some students re
Page 40 and 41: Parents were asked to answer the fo
Page 42 and 43: Figure 17. Proportion of parents wh
Page 44 and 45: PARENTS‟ CONCERNS AND OPINIONS AB
Page 46 and 47: INTERVENTIONS TO KEEP YOUNG PEOPLE
Page 48 and 49: PARENTS‟ UNDERSTANDING OF LEGAL A
Page 50 and 51: WHAT DO YOU THINK ADULTS NEED TO KN
Page 52 and 53: ATTITUDES TO INFORMATION AND CONNEC
Page 54 and 55: (90%) and 85.7% reported hate advoc
Page 56 and 57: Figure 26. Percentage of teachers w
Page 58 and 59: SOCIAL NETWORKING The majority of h
Page 60 and 61: need for internet use rules to enco
Page 64 and 65: managing the impact of their comput
Page 66 and 67: surveyed from grade 4 to year 9. Th
Page 68 and 69: ONLINE SAFETY INTERVENTIONS AND MET
Page 70 and 71: SUMMARY In summary, the Cybersafe S
Page 72 and 73: APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Table 17. Con
Page 74 and 75: APPENDIX 2 Table 18. All websites l
Page 76: squiglys playhouse 1 0 0 0 stardoll
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