A survey by the children’s internet safety charity, found that 31 per cent of children game with people they don’t know in real life and 61 per cent of children reported being contacted by a stranger in a game.
Cybersafe's latest annual report also found that 93 per cent of pre-teens own a smart device while 65 per cent of pre-teens are on social media despite the 13+ age limit.
It also found that one in three pre-teens has been upset by content encountered online. Meanwhile, 30 per cent of children said they have friends/followers on social media platforms that they don’t know in real life.
CyberSafeIreland surveyed 3,764 children aged between 8 and 12 in schools and the results show that the vast majority of children own a device that connects to the internet and that many are active online.
Personal information
Speaking about the report, CyberSafeIreland’s head of education & innovation, Philip Arneill said:
"We know that asking children to never chat to people they don’t know in the context of an online game can be a challenging message to get across, since many see it as part of the game and entirely normal.
"Whilst we would always encourage kids to never engage online with people they don’t know offline, the key message needs to be about never sharing personal information with strangers online and to talk to a trusted adult if anything or anyone they encounter online makes them feel scared or uncomfortable."
CyberSafeIreland chief executive, Alex Cooney said that he understands that the restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19 have meant that most of us have become heavily dependent on our devices.
However he said "Whilst the benefits of technology have become ever more apparent, we must remain mindful of the risks that all users, but particularly children, encounter online and we must do what we can to mitigate against them."
