65% of children under 10 to 15 years of age use the Internet without parental supervision

65% of children under 10 to 15 years of age use the Internet without parental supervision

One in four young people declare themselves "addicted" to the mobile

65% of children between 10 and 15 years old use the Internet unsupervised because "a large number of families ignore technology and are not aware of the risks their children run," according to experts from the security company. digital Gaptain, at a conference held this Friday in the framework of the Euskal Encounter held at the BEC in Barakaldo (Bizkaia).

The speakers, Juanfran Ruíz Rodríguez and Rosa Pérez, from Gaptain, have addressed the dangers faced by children and young people on the Internet and have insisted on parental control and supervision of minors' online activity in order to encourage them to "use responsible »for technology to combat aspects such as cyberbullying.

As reported by the organizers of the meeting in a note, among the security measures pointed out by experts stand out "the use of control tools that can be installed in technological devices or by applying rules and schedules of internet use" .

Rosa Pérez has stressed that "the virtual world is real" and "that 65% of children between 10 and 15 years old use the Internet without supervision is alarming."

In the opinion of Juanfran Ruíz Rodríguez, mobile addiction and cyberbullying pose a "serious" problem for minors since "a third of minors confess to being addicted to the telephone and one in four cases of bullying is already given through of new technologies ».

The speakers have released data such as that 27% of children under 16 have ever shared sexual content on the Internet. This practice, called 'sexting', is another risk associated with the growing use of new technologies. on the part of the minors.

Blackmail

In that sense, Rosa Pérez has pointed out that "the probability of suffering this blackmail may be higher than what is thought. In fact, according to data from the European Union provided by Pérez, »63% of children between 12 and 18 admit to having contacted a stranger through the Internet, and 46% confess to having physically met that person«.

The rapporteur has indicated that "terms such as 'sexting', 'grooming', 'sextorssion' in the use of mobile devices are becoming more frequent among minors, which causes risks that many families are not aware of yet »

The aim of the family digital security companies is to be able to "transfer to the virtual world the education and advice that we inculcate to minors in the real world". Because, "if we take the hand of our children daily and educate them to cross the green light, why leave them alone on the Internet?", He remarked.

In turn, Ruíz Rodríguez has pointed out that "the risks are intuited but not known" and the statistics show, from their point of view, "alarming" data because "27% of children under 16 have practiced 'sexting' through mobile devices, "that is," almost one in four have shared images of sexual content by tablet or mobile. "

In addition, it has continued, "although 94.5% identify it as a dangerous practice, 44.5% assume it as part of the love or sexual game." From his point of view, it is necessary to "educate and encourage responsible use" of technology among young people and more if we bear in mind that this exchange of images can turn into something very serious and lead to 'grooming' or 'sextorsion' , which consists in the sexual blackmail of the minor.

Those blackmails in the form of harassment of adults to children or minors through false profiles on social networks "are aggressions that, on occasion, can go from being virtual to being physical if the adult manages to get in touch with the harassed person. In fact, the harasser usually uses "sensitive content" to ask for more sexual images or directly request an encounter with the child, the expert said.

Cyberbulling

Beyond the technological dangers associated with sex, the Gaptain experts have also highlighted important risks for children such as mobile addiction or cyberbullying. "If we consider that a use greater than four hours can be considered an addiction, 33% of minors are recognized as mobile addicts," says Juanfran Ruiz.

A problem that, according to the expert, "is very widespread" and not only affects young people, since "an average person unlocks the phone 85 times a day, the average use of the Internet is five hours a day, 40% of people do not spend more than an hour without looking at the mobile, and 50% do not wait to finish driving to look at WhatsApp ». For this reason, Ruiz warns of the importance of "giving an example" to the little ones, making moderate and responsible use of our devices.

On the other hand, school harassment or bullying has been pointed out as "a serious problem" that has also been extended to new technologies, since "one in four cases of bullying is already occurring through them". Mobile devices "facilitate harassment, which no longer has to occur in the school and can be extended 24 hours a day," said Juan Ruiz Ruíz.

Rosa Perez also highlighted the importance of this last phenomenon that causes "30% of those who suffer suicidal thoughts, which in 38% of cases develops for more than a year and 75% of the time keep silent »