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When Heather Bryson was eight years old, she got her first smartphone
According to Ofcom data, over 25% of UK children aged five to seven now possess their very own smartphone.
Additionally, there was an increase in social media usage compared to previous year. Despite WhatsApp’s minimum age of 13, almost half of the users in this age group use the messaging app.
The telecoms authority expressed concern that parents’ efforts to enforce guidelines “appeared to be diminishing.”
It went on to say that the numbers should serve as a “wake up call” to get businesses to step up their efforts to safeguard kids.
The number of children using messaging services increased from 59% to 65%, according to Ofcom’s yearly survey on children’s relationships with media and the internet. These youngsters are between the ages of five and seven.
The figure for livestreams rose from 39% to 50%, while that for social media rose from 30% to 38%. There has been an increase from 34% to just over 40% of people playing video games online.
Despite the policies of the major platforms, more than 50% of minors under the age of 13 accessed social media, and some of those users acknowledged to using false information to get access to premium features.
I hope this serves as a wake-up message to the business world. Mark Bunting, a member of Ofcom’s Online Safety Group, told BBC News that companies should consider the users they really have, rather than the people that their terms and conditions claim they have.
“We’ve known for a long time that children, under the age limit on a lot of the most popular apps, are widely using those apps, and companies are now under a legal obligation to take steps to keep those children safe,” according to him.
Ofcom data shows that compared to the previous year, social media usage among children ages 5 to 7 has increased from 30% to 38%. Specifically, use on WhatsApp has increased from 29% to 37%, on TikTok from 25% to 30%, and on Instagram from 14% to 22%.
A number of advocates are calling for stricter regulations on the use of smartphones and social media, including the imposition of new age limits.
Because minors cannot legally get into contracts and because most telecom companies refuse to provide pay-as-you-go plans to customers under the age of sixteen, it stands to reason that most children’s phones were given to them by their parents.
Many parents choose to provide their children with phones so they can stay in touch or keep tabs on them via their mobile device.
When it comes to the internet, how can you ensure the safety of children?
Peer pressure was another reason parents gave to the BBC for their children’s heavy social media use: when all their friends were on the app, it was hard to keep them off. “Pushed into a corner” was the feeling that one parent described.
Popular eleven-year-old Heather Bryson gained notoriety for her internet fitness videos created to aid individuals in nursing homes, especially those with dementia, during the epidemic.
At the age of eight, she got her hands on her first smartphone.
Although her parents believe that she has benefitted socially from being online, they actively monitor her activities and the people she speaks with.
“I think it’s become an important tool for anyone growing up these days,” remarks Gary Bryson, her father.
“Being able to monitor exactly what she’s doing is paramount” .
Despite the benefits, Heather says it limits her ability to communicate with pals via messaging applications and social media.
“Sometimes I get boys swearing at me online in chats which is not nice, but the good things there are loads of nice people out there too” .
“It’s just something that you get used to after a while but you shouldn’t have to” , according to her.
Disengaged parents
The majority of social networking sites have an incorrect minimum age limit, which is known by just one-third of parents. Ofcom proposes
However, the watchdog noted that parents were less likely to enforce the regulations they were aware of.
Compared to last year, 31% of parents were open to the idea of their kid (aged 5-7) having a social media account, regardless of whether or not the child was older than the app’s minimum age requirement.
Some parents may feel “resigned” to the fact that they can’t monitor their children’s internet activities, according to a recent study.
As far as this matter is concerned, Mr. Bunting expressed “a lot of sympathy” for parents:
Keeping kids under the age of thirteen out of it totally, which is a tall order in today’s culture, may not be the point. However, parents may have conversations with their children about how to use such services securely. And we would strongly suggest that they do that,” he said.
Call without charge
Someone has to do something, according to those who have read investigations like the one the BBC did this month, which discovered that a malevolent WhatsApp group had children as young as nine joined to it.
App shops should be required to verify users’ age, according to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (which owns Instagram and WhatsApp).
Clare Fernyhough, who is part of the Smartphone Free Childhood movement, told the BBC that society has “just assuming that we all need a smartphone – and now we’re beginning to see the huge impact that that’s having” in response to the Ofcom findings.
However, Digital Futures for Children director Professor Sonia Livingstone argued that it was unfair to shield kids from harm by limiting their use of technology.
“This is the first generation with access to a powerful personal computer, it could be so amazing for them, and that’s what children want too,” she told the British broadcaster.
“But the companies are risky by design, and what we need is child rights by design” , according to her.
New smartphone age restrictions, according to Ofcom, would be a government decision.
It will begin engaging with tech companies in May on the measures it wants them to take to make the internet a safer place for kids, and then move on to exploring innovative ways to utilize AI to block inappropriate material.
Michelle Donelan, the United States Secretary of State for Science, Technology, and Innovation, made it clear in a statement that safeguarding children’s online safety is the top priority for the administration.
“Children as young as five should not be accessing social media and these stark findings show why our Online Safety Act is essential,” according to her.
