As was to be expected, Safer Internet Day (February 5) passed with hardly a mention in Malta. Our media are, quite naturally, too busy reporting (much more than challenging or investigating) what politicians of all shades and hues say during the electoral campaign.

However, because women (and men as well, I suppose) do not live by politics alone it is useful to commemorate a day which reminds us of the new digital environment being created by the Internet. Most Maltese use the Internet every day. We have one of the highest penetrations of Facebook in the world. Maltese children navigate and surf at all hours of day and night.

I was recently in Prague for one of the periodic meeting organised by the pan-European EU Kids Online research project. I am one of the Maltese researchers who now are part of the third phase of the project and in this blog I liberally use material from the press releases released by the group.

European EU Kids Online commemorated the day by publishing a report titled “In their own words: What bothers children online.” This is one of the reports published from time to time by the group.  Nearly 10,000 children between 9-16 years old from 25 European countries were surveyed for the report, and were asked ‘What things on the internet would bother people about your age?’

According to the report  over half the children who responded (55%) spontaneously included a platform or technology in their answer. Video-sharing sites such as YouTube were the most commonly mentioned in terms of risk (by 32%), followed by websites (29%), social networking sites (13%) and games (10%).

Video-sharing websites were shown to be associated with violent and pornographic content, along with a range of other content-related risks. Replies indicate that YouTube content could be considered upsetting because it is real (or highly realistic), conveyed by powerful moving images, and can be readily shared among the peer group. Of the risks associated with video-sharing websites, most were related to violent (30%) and pornographic (27%) content risks. Other content-related risks given include viewing unwanted, scary or hateful content and content harmful to self-esteem.

Fear was most often expressed in relation to scary content (23% of those who mentioned scary content also expressed fear). Only 5% of those who mentioned pornographic content expressed disgust (but, put differently, of those who expressed disgust in response to online risks, 28% linked this to pornography). Commercial content were mostly described as “annoying” (15% of those who mentioned commercial content seemed annoyed). Interestingly, other risks mentioned (hate, racism, violence, self-harm etc.) generated little expressed emotion.

One should not conclude that risk necessarily involves harm.  Exposure to online risks does not necessarily result in harm. Another report published by EU Kids Online a few weeks showed the online resilience of kids and how they cope with online risks.

Most children do not feel bothered when confronted with online risks. However, children who find it difficult to manage their emotions, conduct and social behaviour ‘in the offline world’ are more likely to feel bothered and upset in the online world’.

The report showed that children with psychological problems are less resilient online - online risks upset them more often and more intensely. Moreover, they tend to be passive instead of actively trying to solve the problem. Three online risks were investigated: exposure to sexual content, online bullying and sexting.

Research shows that an approach that focuses on mediation and monitoring tends to be more appropriate to stimulate children’s online resilience, so parents should be encouraged to stay nearby while their child goes online, talk regularly about the child’s online activities, use the internet together with their child, give advice on safer internet use, and check what their children do online. Regardless of the type of online risk, emotional stability helps children to be more resilient to online risks. Across all ages, children who are self-confident and free from emotional and social problems, are less likely to feel bothered by sexual content, online bullying or sexting.  Moreover, among those with psychological problems, the intensity of harm related to online risks is stronger and the negative emotions remain for a longer period of time.

EU Kids Online project makes a number of recommendations to increase children’s online resilience

• Teach children how to use (online) proactive coping strategies (such as deleting messages and blocking senders) from an early age on in both formal and informal contexts.
• Help children tackling their psychological problems and build self-confidence. Pay special attention to girls when it comes to coping with online sexual risks.
• Promote internet access and use among adults, as parents who are frequent internet users themselves feel more confident in guiding their children on the internet.
• Support from teachers does not seem to promote online resilience, possibly because teachers do not feel confident enough about their digital skills. Programmes to increase digital skills among teachers are therefore recommendable.
• Children are not all the same. Risk perceptions vary by country, age and gender, and much of what is considered risky by one child will be considered not problematic by others. So, the most important recommendation is to ask children what bothers them online, listen to what they have to say and help them accordingly.

Those who wish to read more about children and the Internet can access other reports from www.eukidsonline.net.