Nearly a third of British 11-16 year-olds say they have been targeted by mean or cruel behaviour online in the last year, but nearly two-thirds say they feel able to cope with online negativity, according to a survey commissioned by the UK Safer Internet Centre.
Its report, based on interviews with more than 1,000 young people, was released as part of the charity’s Safer Internet Day 2015 event, which has backing from politicians, celebrities and internet companies.
The survey found plenty of positives around young people’s online activities, with 63% saying they are closer to their friends because of the internet, and 55% seeing kind, positive and supportive posts all or most of the time on social networks and messaging apps.
However, the report also notes that 13% of 11-16 year-olds feel that people post negative, mean, critical or upsetting things all or most of the time on these services, while one in 20 said they feel that people are mean to them “most of the time” online.
“The report shows how important technology is in young people’s lives and their friendships: for the majority of them, the internet is a positive place. But there is still that issue of young people that don’t have such a good time,” Will Gardner, chief executive of Childnet International and director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, told the Guardian.
“We don’t want to trivialise the fact that many young people are having a difficult time online. We want to use this Safer Internet Day event to inspire young people to create a kinder internet for themselves, as well as showing parents that internet safety is an important issue to be looking at.”
According to the report, 26% of British 11-16 year-olds use six or more social networks and messaging apps every week. The most popular individual services are YouTube and Facebook, used by 78% and 74% of this age group respectively.
They’re followed by Snapchat (46%), Instagram (43%), Twitter and WhatsApp (both 37%) and Skype and Minecraft (both 32% – the latter game presumably included because children can play it together online).
The report suggests that many children are taking action on these services when they encounter negativity. Of those who have experienced mean behaviour, 75% have blocked another user; 68% have supported someone who was being targeted, and 74% have stood up to a culprit.
Gardner, who sits on Facebook’s safety advisory board, said that internet services have made encouraging steps forward in recent years to help their users – young people included – take action.
“The different services now have safety centres where you can get advice on how to keep safe, and there have been some improvements to the reporting and blocking tools available on those services,” he said.
“Facebook reporting wasn’t transparent in the past: when you made a report, you didn’t know what happened to it. Now it has a dashboard where you can track that report, see if it’s been dealt with or not, and what the outcome was. It’s really important that these service providers maintain their users’ confidence in the safety tools that are there.”
On the Safer Internet Day a film – #Up2Us – featuring more than 150 schoolchildren talking about their online experiences will premiere. There will also be an online TV show, SID TV, aimed at 8-15 year-olds and featuring celebrities including gymnast Beth Tweddle.
“Beth has experience of getting abuse online, and she was very clear in saying ‘let’s not throw away Twitter because of the minority that are abusive: let’s engage with this medium’. She has made some incredible statements about listening to the positive voices while using this technology, and reporting the things that are abusive,” said Gardner.
“And in the film, we’ve got a very inspiring commentary from young people saying that on Safer Internet Day, when they see a negative comment they’re going to post a positive one to counteract it.”
Adults are also a key target for the day-long event, with online resources for parents and carers including a factsheet and “conversation starters”, and education packs for teachers of primary and secondary-school age children.
“Our goal is to try to get a dialogue between parents and children about technology. Just as you’d ask you child what they did today, so you can take an interest in their online lives and the services that they’re using,” said Gardner.
“If there is a dialogue going on, it’s more likely that young people will come and talk to their parent if something goes wrong.”
Politicians including digital economy minister Ed Vaizey, the Prime Minister’s digital advisor Baroness Shields and Labour leader Ed Milliband are backing Safer Internet Day.
Gardner said British politicians have a “pretty good track record” of engaging with the issues around internet safety for children.
He cited the current coalition government’s addition of e-safety to England’s new computing curriculum, and the previous Labour administration’s Byron review of child internet safety and creation of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) as evidence.
“The UK is seen as something of a leader in the area of online safety. We’re very careful not to make this into a political issue: it is something which is relevant to everybody,” said Gardner.
“We want to make sure that whatever happens after the general election in May, there is good support in this space for education and awareness work.”
He stressed that the positive side of how children are using the internet should be acknowledged alongside problems such as cyberbullying and online grooming.
“Young people are seizing the opportunity to engage with new technologies: they’re doing brilliant things, discovering new things, connecting with other people and being creative. That is a positive story,” said Gardner. “At the same time, let’s not ignore the fact that there are some other issues here.”
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Safer Internet Day: Third of young people targeted with 'mean' online behaviour
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