{"id":30768,"date":"2018-01-23T09:39:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T01:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=30768"},"modified":"2018-01-23T09:39:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T01:39:19","slug":"the-impact-of-the-internet-and-social-media-on-childrens-safety-and-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2018\/01\/23\/the-impact-of-the-internet-and-social-media-on-childrens-safety-and-wellbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"The impact of the internet and social media on children\u2019s safety and wellbeing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Screenshot of UNICEF report on “The State of the World\u2019s Children 2017: Children in a\u00a0Digital\u00a0World.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Despite children\u2019s massive online presence \u2013 1 in 3 internet users worldwide is a child \u2013 too little is done to protect them from the perils of the\u00a0digital\u00a0world and to increase their access to safe online content,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0said in its recently released annual flagship report.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The State of the World\u2019s Children 2017: Children in a\u00a0digital\u00a0world<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>presents\u00a0UNICEF\u2019s first comprehensive look at the different ways\u00a0digital\u00a0technology is affecting children\u2019s lives and life chances, identifying dangers as well as opportunities.\u00a0\u00a0It argues that governments and the private sector have not kept up with the pace of change, exposing children to new risks and harms and leaving millions of the most disadvantaged children behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor better\u00a0and<\/i>\u00a0for worse,\u00a0digital\u00a0technology is now an irreversible fact of our lives,\u201d said\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0Executive Director Anthony Lake. \u201cIn a\u00a0digital world, our dual challenge is how to mitigate the harms while maximizing the benefits of the internet for\u00a0every<\/i>\u00a0child.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report explores the benefits\u00a0digital\u00a0technology can offer the most disadvantaged children, including those growing up in poverty or affected by humanitarian emergencies. These include increasing their access to information, building skills for the\u00a0digital\u00a0workplace, and giving them a platform to connect and communicate their views.<\/p>\n

But the report shows that millions of children are missing out. Around one third of the world\u2019s youth \u2013 346 million \u2013 are not online, exacerbating inequities and reducing children\u2019s ability to participate in an increasingly\u00a0digital\u00a0economy.<\/p>\n

The report also examines how the internet increases children\u2019s vulnerability to risks and harms, including misuse of their private information, access to harmful content, and cyberbullying. The ubiquitous presence of mobile devices, the report notes, has made online access for many children less supervised \u2013 and potentially more dangerous.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0digital\u00a0networks like the Dark Web and cryptocurrencies are enabling the worst forms of exploitation and abuse, including trafficking and \u2018made to order\u2019 online child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

Top source of child pornography<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Philippines, the risks to children are high with the country being the number one global source of child pornography and a hub for the live-stream sexual abuse trade. Around 8 out of every 10 Filipino children are at risk of online sexual abuse or bullying.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild pornography is a billion-dollar industry, and Filipino children are the ones being traded and exploited online. Children who are made to perform sex acts in front of a web camera will never get their childhood back. We must all work together to protect our children,\u201d\u00a0UNICEFRepresentative Lotta Sylwander says.<\/p>\n

To tackle the problem of online child abuse,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0in the Philippines is working with the government, private sector and child protection advocates to strengthen legislation and its implementation, support collaboration among partners, conduct studies and increase awareness.<\/p>\n

To generate evidence,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0Philippines is conducting three studies: the Kids Online Survey, the National Study on Child Online Sexual Exploitation and Changing Social Behavior on Child Online Protection in Communities. The studies seek to understand the root causes of online sexual violence and inform\u00a0UNICEF\u2019s future interventions in this area.<\/p>\n

To strengthen coordination and help capacity development of partners,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0Philippines organizes workshops and provides technical support to local and international dialogues to share best practices, safeguard standards and mechanisms and create a coalition for change within industry and related private sectors.<\/p>\n

In 2017,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0Philippines launched the Children\u2019s Rights and Business Principles to the Philippine business community in partnership with the Makati Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the support of key business leaders such as Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala. The launch generated sign-ups for training on the Principles from 25 companies.\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0Philippines also continues to engage internet service providers, social media networks and remittance agencies to craft online child safeguarding policies and change business practices to stop the creation and circulation of online child sexual abuse content.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, various positive developments have been made to protect children online, such as:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Inclusion of child online protection provision in the newly passed Free Internet in Public Places Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Approval by the Government of the National Response Plan to Prevent and Address Child Online Sexual Exploitation and Abuse<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Roll-out of a specific module on child online protection for family court judges as adopted by the Supreme Court in the Philippines<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Engagement with businesses and industries to increase awareness and accountability to mitigate online risks and optimize opportunities for children.<\/p>\n

UNICEF\u00a0Philippines recommends that more should be done in terms of:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Enhanced cooperation and collaboration between the Inter-Agency Councils Against Child Pornography and Trafficking<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Increase investment for targeted advocacy to understand the harmful effects of online exploitation<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Expand competency development for frontliners, especially social workers, to provide trauma-informed care for victims and families<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Integrate parenting support interventions to understand both opportunities and risks in the\u00a0digital\u00a0environment<\/p>\n

The report presents current data and analysis about children\u2019s online usage and the impact of\u00a0digital\u00a0technology on children\u2019s wellbeing, exploring growing debates about\u00a0digital\u00a0\u201caddiction\u201d and the possible effect of screen time on brain development.<\/p>\n

Additional facts from the report include:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Young people are the most connected age group. Worldwide, 71 per cent are online compared with 48 per cent of the total population.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0African youth are the least connected, with around 3 out of 5 youth offline, compared to just 1 in 25 in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Approximately 56 per cent of all websites are in English and many children cannot find content they understand or that is culturally relevant.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0More than 9 in 10 child sexual abuse URLs identified globally are hosted in five countries \u2013 Canada, France, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation and the United States.<\/p>\n

Only collective action \u2013 by governments, the private sector, children\u2019s organizations, academia, families and children themselves \u2013 can help level the\u00a0digital\u00a0playing field and make the internet safer and more accessible for children, the report says.<\/p>\n

Practical recommendations to help guide more effective policymaking and more responsible business practices to benefit children include:<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Provide all children with affordable access to high-quality online resources.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Protect children from harm online \u2013 including abuse, exploitation, trafficking, cyberbullying and exposure to unsuitable materials.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Safeguard children\u2019s privacy and identities online.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Teach\u00a0digital\u00a0literacy to keep children informed, engaged and safe online.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Leverage the power of the private sector to advance ethical standards and practices that protect and benefit children online.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Put children at the centre of\u00a0digital\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internet was designed for adults, but it is increasingly used by children and young people \u2013 and\u00a0digital\u00a0technology increasingly affects their lives and futures. So\u00a0digital\u00a0policies, practices, and products should better reflect children\u2019s needs, children\u2019s perspectives and children\u2019s voices,\u201d said Lake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite children\u2019s massive online presence \u2013 1 in 3 internet users worldwide is a child \u2013 too little is done to protect them from the perils of the\u00a0digital\u00a0world and to increase their access to safe online content,\u00a0UNICEF\u00a0said in its recently released annual flagship report. The State of the World\u2019s Children 2017: Children in a\u00a0digital\u00a0world\u00a0presents\u00a0UNICEF\u2019s first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[328,5425,3471,5733],"class_list":["post-30768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-internet","tag-internet-safety","tag-online-child-pornography","tag-unicef"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}