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Most Australian teens have viewed harmful content online but parents in the dark
On Safer Internet Day, research shows children exposed to violent sexual material, self-harm and unhealthy eating but are reluctant to speak up
Download the free Guardian app; get our morning email briefingSix in ten teenagers have seen harmful content online, but most parents are unaware what graphic content their children are exposed to on their screens, including drug taking, suicide and violent sexual material.
On Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant released research exploring the online risks for children. It identified significant gaps in parental awareness of children’s exposure to online harm.
Six out of teens have been exposed to harmful content such as drug taking, suicide, self-harm and unhealthy eating, gory images and violent sexual material but only four out of 10 parents are aware.
Parents have limited awareness about their children’s experiences with cyberbullying. Nearly 70% of the kids who were treated in a hurtful or nasty way online told their parents but only 51% of parents say they were aware.
Parents have better awareness of other harms such as their child’s experiences of being asked to share sexual images of themselves (11% of teens have experienced this while 10% of parents are aware).
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