A survey has revealed the main dangers that children are exposed to on social networks, a situation that worsens with the increased use of mobile devices from a young age.
Despite the fact that social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok only allow their users to be over 13 years of age, the reality is that there are younger children, even as young as 4, who frequent social networks like these and others on a daily basis.
One of the main reasons this is so is that while they have certain requirements, they don’t check or verify the data, which makes it difficult for them to notice all the children using their service.
To reach the conclusions of this survey of ExpressVPN , interviewed more than 2,000 children between the ages of 4 and 13 in the United States and United Kingdom with Internet access, as well as 2,000 parents or guardians. And this is what they have discovered!
Younger children consult the networks daily
One of the data that has caught our attention the most is that there are 4-year-old children who spend up to 21 minutes a day on social networks. Although they shouldn’t even have access to them. A quarter of parents allow their children between the ages of 4 and 13 to have accounts on social networks, despite the fact that more than half of the children admit to consulting them.
The older children get, the more time they spend on social media. 13-year-olds spend an average of 45 minutes a day.
Few parents leave their children’s Internet activity unsupervised, although some control it more than others. More than half admit to monitoring their children’s online activity one or more times a day. 87% allow their children to watch videos, more than 80% allow their children to play games online and 28% have no problem accessing the Internet to read articles.
Although few allow their children to have social media accounts , they do, so they must be doing it. without parental knowledge or supervision.
What are parents and children afraid of on social networks?
Parents are aware of the dangers of social networks , such as depression, invasion of privacy, depression or online predators, among others. What worries 59% of them the most is that they bully their children. The second biggest concern is online predators.
Meanwhile, children worry above all about someone saying bad words to them, being rude, or seeing scary videos or images. 22% of them have been victims of bullying on the Internet, although it could be more. 17% of them have been asked by strangers where they go to school and 14% have been asked their address.
For their part, one in six children has lied on social networks about various aspects, such as their appearance, address or location. Probably for your own safety, although it could be for other reasons.
Protect your children from online dangers
76% of parents are clear that they are primarily responsible for teaching their children to protect themselves online, children also think so and most of them even say that their parents and guardians have taught them about online safety. Although they can learn by other means, such as school, it is the parents who are directly responsible for it.
Therefore, if you have a child, you should try to protect him from online dangers . Since it will be difficult to control them 24 hours a day and follow all their steps, it is important that you take measures such as installing parental controls.
You should also encourage open communication so they can tell you everything without fear, keep your children’s names private online by changing them to nicknames, and use a VPN . The latter will keep your family safe because all the data is encrypted, preventing the wrong person from knowing their location or online activity.