Children meeting strangers through chat

One out of every five schoolchildren who chat online goes on to meet a stranger that he or she has communicated with, a national survey has shown, raising the spectre of children possibly falling victims to abuse.

Commissioner for Children Sonia Camilleri expressed shock at the figure, saying the authorities should analyse whether children meet strangers out of sheer curiosity.

The survey, Trends In Internet Browsing Among Students, carried out by the National Statistics Office, indicates a discrepancy between the parents' perception of their children's computer habits and what really goes on.

The survey was unveiled during a seminar yesterday and is the first of its kind in Malta, with a sample of 3,231 schoolchildren in Year 4 and Form 5 and 1,027 parents and guardians.

The findings show that half of students use the internet to chat. No less than 15.7 per cent admitted they spent 10 hours or more a week doing so.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) chat regularly with strangers they met on the internet.

Just over half of all the girls admitted they have been asked to meet persons they first met online. A third of the children between Year 4 and Year 6 have been asked to meet up socially, with the figure shooting up to 61 per cent for students between Form 3 and Form 5.

A total of 21 per cent who chat online proceeded to meet their internet acquaintances, the study found. Of these, 35 per cent were between seven and 13 years of age.

Girls said they are normally accompanied to such appointments but boys tend to proceed on their own.

Twenty-two per cent of students admitted they have opted out of an appointment because they were scared and another 17 per cent said they did not keep their appointment because they were stopped by parents.

No less than 43.5 per cent admitted they were exposed to pornography, violence and racist material on the internet. Sixty per cent said they infiltrated such material through friends, while 44 per cent accessed it through a search engine.

On a positive note, the study confirmed the wide use of the internet among students. On average, they spend 5.1 hours a week online. Those between Year 4 and Year 6 spend an average of three hours a week and students between Form 3 and Form 5 a total of 8.2 hours.

However, the vast majority are unattended as they browse the net.

Indeed, parents seem to be quite uninformed or misguided about their children's internet habits - 67.5 per cent believe their children spend just two or fewer hours a week on the 'net.

A total of 93 per cent said their children used the internet to download information but only 67 per cent of the students admitted they went online to do this.

Only 40 per cent of parents know their children use the internet to chat, when in fact 52 per cent do.

Likewise, just five per cent of parents know that their children download films, when a quarter of all students do so. Short video clips are downloaded by nearly a third of the students, though only 12 per cent of parents know this.

Just one third of all parents were aware of the existence of internet filtering software but only 23 per cent have installed it.

The survey found that Gozitans and those living in the southern harbour region use the computer least.

Ms Camilleri alerted those present to a new form of bullying unfolding in schools where certain schoolchildren are coerced into accessing certain websites and then informing the harassers the next day about the content.

Though it was a positive thing to note the popularity of the internet, one should analyse why children are spending so much time chatting on line, Ms Camilleri said.

"Are they lonely or are they shy? Or is there nothing out there more interesting socially," she asked.

Psychology lecturer Angela Abela said that when children spend more time chatting online than socially or on the phone, it could make them retreat further into their shell.

Parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech said the results should serve as an eye opener not only for schools, teachers and sociologists, but also for parents and children.