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Fifty four per cent of 11-16 year olds in the UK say young people need advice about how to keep their personal information online private, new Ofcom research reveals.  Ofcom has today also published two new guides for parents and carers on how to use parental controls on mobile phones, games consoles and portable media players and, if they need to, how to report inappropriate content.  

 
The full research can be found here:.

Many children and young people also believe that information is needed on how to keep security information such as password and PIN numbers safe (28 per cent), how to avoid inappropriate content online (22 per cent) and how to deal with cyberbullying (20 per cent).

 
Nearly a quarter of children and young people wouldn’t know what they would do if they encountered ‘inappropriate material’* on their mobile phone (25 per cent) or games console (22 per cent). 

The majority of 7-16 year olds say they have received some information about staying safe online (74 per cent).  But 23 per cent say no-one has talked to them about online safety. 

Help keeping children safe on line

The majority of parents and carers surveyed (79 per cent) say that they know enough about how to help their child stay safe online.  But over one in ten say they need additional help and support. The areas most frequently mentioned by these parents were:

• additional help or support with better filters and controls set by games suppliers and internet service providers; and
• more information on how to set online controls or blocks.

The research, carried out by Ipsos Mori on behalf of Ofcom, comprised 797 face-to-face interviews with children aged 7-16 and their parent or carer. Mobile phone use is widespread among children and young people and an increasing number access the internet via a mobile phone.  The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to promote media literacy, which is the ability to access, understand and create communications. This research forms part of Ofcom’s media literacy programme.

Mobile phones

Just over 10 per cent of children use their mobile phone to go online.  When online they most frequently say they are downloading or playing music (80 per cent), visiting social networks (45 per cent) and instant messaging (38 per cent).

Thirty five per cent of parents and carers who say their child uses a mobile phone to go online are aware of the existence of access controls on mobile phones and just over half of them (53 per cent) say the access controls are activated on their child’s phone.

The research found that very few children and young people say that they have experienced something which made them feel uncomfortable, upset, scared or worried, or which they think they were too young to see on a mobile phone. Some 4 per cent of children who use a mobile phone say that they have seen or heard ‘inappropriate material’ on their mobile phone.  None of the children say they accessed anything ‘inappropriate’ when using a mobile phone on a ‘gated’*portal. In the few reported incidents of encountering ‘inappropriate material’, most came via offline channels e.g. text/SMS/photo/video.

In June 2009, the UK mobile operators published a revised code of practice for the self-regulation of content on mobiles.  The Code was established to restrict mobile access to adult content for anyone who isn’t verified as being over 18 (http://www.mobilebroadbandgroup.com/documents/mbg_content_code_v2_100609.pdf).

Games consoles

Sixteen per cent of children who have a games console use it to go online.  Thirty two per cent of parents and carers whose child uses a games console to go online are aware of access controls and two thirds (67 per cent) of them say the controls are activated.

Twenty four per cent of parents or carers whose children use a games console to go online spontaneously mention appropriate age ratings and a fifth mention not playing for too long (20 per cent) when asked about rules and restrictions on games consoles.

Some 5 per cent of children who used a games console to go online said they had encountered ‘inappropriate material’.