RESEARCH conducted by Kaspersky Lab ZAO has uncovered the harsh impact of Internet over-dependency among children across the globe, the Russian cybersecurity firm said on November 17.
Kaspersky Lab said 55 percent of children were qualified by the research as dependent on the Internet. “These children are twice as likely to conceal potentially risky online activities from their parents and use content, inappropriate for their age,” Kaspersky Lab said in a statement.
The company said it surveyed 3,780 families with children aged 8 to 16, conducted across seven countries. The survey found that dependency on the Internet has a marked impact on children behavior and actions. “When asking children to score key aspects of their daily life between 1 and 10, their ability to learn and interact with peers and parents suffers as children get older,” Kaspersky said. “This trend was most notable in relationships with parents, with Internet-dependent children showing a steady worsening in their parental relationships as they get older.”
The survey revealed that eight-year-old children dependent on the Internet scored themselves 8.4 (compared to a higher 8.7 for other children), reducing to just 7.9 out of 10 by the time they are 16 years old (with non-Internet-dependent children’s scores remaining at 8.7).
A third (36 percent) of children dependent on the Internet freely share their home address details online, compared to just a quarter (25 percent) of those who are nondependent. They are also more likely to share information about the places they visit often (60 percent versus 41 percent), expensive purchases made (41 percent versus 27 percent) and where their parents work (36 percent versus 26 percent). Children at the younger end of the Internet-dependent spectrum are more likely to share this information than older kids.
“Internet usage among children today is the norm, but for those dependent on it, the risks and negative impacts could be twice as high or even more,” Andrei Mochola, head of Consumer Business at Kaspersky Lab, was quoted in a statement as saying. “Despite growing up with technology, children still need to be educated in how to use it properly and responsibly.”
According to Mochola, the research has identified that younger children are more likely to share information and have the ability to bypass parental controls, making it vital that parents manage their kids’ Internet usage from a young age, to minimize the risks they face.” Family relationships are also at risk, with Internet-dependent children twice as likely (50 percent) to communicate less with their parents than those not dependent on the Internet (25 percent), as a result of their connected devices.
A third (30 percent) also admit that their Internet usage has been the cause of family disputes (compared to 10 percent among nondependent children) and half (56 percent) conceal their potentially risky online activities from their parents (compared to 28 percent). The same group are also over twice as likely to view content that is inappropriate for children (28 percent versus 11 percent).
Looking at actual threats faced online, the research found that almost half (48 percent) of Internet-dependent children have encountered a cyberthreat (compared to only 24 percent of nondependent kids), and dependent children are also more likely to become a victim of bullying offline (17 percent versus 6 percent), as well as cyber bullying (7 percent versus 1 percent).