[N]ew research commissioned by the UK Safer Internet Centre, to mark Safer Internet Day 2018, has revealed that young people are more likely to have a positive experience than a negative experience when online.
The study, which surveyed 2,000 8-17 year olds on their feelings and attitudes towards social media, revealed that despite the often-publicised negative effects of social media use, the internet plays a pivotal and positive role in how young people develop relationships and maintain their social lives in 2018.
This research comes as Safer Internet Day 2018 is being celebrated globally on Tuesday 6th February 2018 with the slogan “Create, Connect and Share Respect: A better internet starts with you”.
Reporting on young people’s online experiences, the research shows that respondents have felt inspired (74%), excited (82%) or happy (89%) as a result of their internet use in the past week. In contrast, a smaller proportion reported to have felt sad (56%) or angry (52%) by what they came across online in the last seven days.
When things do go wrong, young people feel confident to reach out to their networks for support and guidance, with 60% saying they talk to friends when someone upsets them online. Slightly higher, 62% turn to their parents and carers for guidance.
Young people also feel passionately about their online community with almost four in five (78%) of those surveyed claiming to believe that every person on the internet has a responsibility to be respectful to others. Demonstrating empathy and support online, 88% said that when a friend was feeling sad or upset they had sent a kind message. More than half (54%) said they’d feel isolated if they couldn’t talk to their friends via technology.
However, many young people also face bullying, exclusion and a range of pressures to maintain their friendships and popularity. Almost half (47%) of respondents said that people had excluded them online in the last year, with 60% thinking it is important for friends to include them in group chats. Almost three-quarters (73%), say it’s important for their friends to reply to their messages as soon as they’ve seen them. Still, many young people are rejecting these pressures with 35% saying that they do not feel they must use social media to be popular or liked.
With reforms to Relationships and Sex Education on the horizon, it’s positive to see the majority (72%) of young people wanted their school to teach them about cyberbullying and how to manage friendships online. However, one in ten of those surveyed say that they have not been taught this in school.
The UK Safer Internet Centre – comprised of Childnet, Internet Watch Foundation and South West Grid for Learning – believe that the key to continuing the positive use of the internet is to empower young people with the skills they need to navigate the online world in a safe and respectful way, and to ensure schools, parents and carers and other members of the children’s workforce have the tools to support young people to do so.
With Safer Internet Day, the UK Safer Internet Centre is working with hundreds of other organisations to encourage more conversations at school and at home about young people’s online lives and how their actions online can affect relationships, empowering young people to use digital technology wisely. Schools across the UK will be using the UK Safer Internet Centre’s Education Packs and Safer Internet Day TV films to explore these issues, and later today the UK Safer Internet Centre will hosting events across the UK where young people will be meeting Ministers and other key decision makers.
Will Gardner, a Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre and CEO of Childnet, says: “It’s clear that technology is having an impact on how young people develop relationships, interact with each other and express themselves. Today’s findings are encouraging, highlighting that the majority of young people’s experiences of the internet are positive in this regard. However we also see that there is a negative side, including where young people face pressures in their online friendships.
“Safer Internet Day gives us the unique opportunity to collectively promote respect and empathy online, inspire young people to harness their enthusiasm and creativity, and support them to build positive online experiences for everyone. It is inspirational to see so many different organisations and individuals come together today to build a better internet. We want to make sure that every young person feels equipped and empowered to make positive decisions when interacting online – be it on gaming sites, messaging apps or social sharing platforms.”
Superintendent Mark Khan, Head of Cybercrime at North Yorkshire Police, said: “Safer Internet Day is a vitally important opportunity to raise awareness of the potential threats children and young people face online.
“Everyone needs to understand how they can play their part in making the internet a safer.
“To parents and carers, I would say that it is crucially important you talk to children and young people about their online activity. Whether it’s Facebook or Facetime, Snapchat or Skype, or online gaming and shopping, it is important that you have basic knowledge of how these apps and sites work. This can help you to understand any potential threats and talk to your children about them.
“Parenting online is just as important as parenting in the “real world”. What I mean by this is that you need to make sure the things you wouldn’t let you children do in reality is not actually happening online. Just because a child is at home with you, does not mean we know where they actually “are” if they are online.
“I also encourage every young person to really think about what they are doing online. Take the time to check that what you are doing and the information you are posting is not threatening your safety.
“I also encourage anyone with any concerns around online safety to get in touch. The police are here to help and we will take any reports seriously. Dial 101, press 2 and ask to speak to your local policing team – details can be found on our website.
“If you are in immediate danger always dial 999.”
