We discussed kids’ safety online and went beyond “Stranger Danger”. Chances are, we could talk about this for hours on end. We’re here to help kids and their parents navigate a digital world safely through knowledge and best practices.
What you are about to read may be difficult to digest.
- In 2017, there were 20.5 million reported images of child abuse sex materials and in 2018, that number rose to 45.8 million.
- 53% contained images of children under 10 years old. 2% of those were children under 2 years old.
- 28% are considered BSDM involving children, 84% was nude content, and 91% was video content.
- It is estimated that 9 children per minute are abused in the United States alone.
- Due to schools shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a 200% increase in child abuse. The kids are now home with their abusers and the teachers trained to recognize and report this abuse are not able to do so. These children are also on the internet unsupervised and unmonitored.
What Exactly IS the Problem?
Many school staff and other organizations are doing their absolute best to try and educate kids in school to be better digital citizens. There is still so much more work to do and that includes educating the parents as well.
Cyberbullying is increasing with kids learning how to be anonymous online. It includes any way of affecting someone’s feelings in a negative way. The bully feeds the audience and then their target is left feeling like the whole world is against them.
Even with all of the education, kids are still falling in the trap. They know there are dangers online so why is this happening? It’s because they don’t know what to do when they encounter those dangers.
Kids are handed devices for holidays and birthdays and off they go for the most part. We wouldn’t hand them the keys to our cars without teaching them to drive so why are parents doing this with cell phones and tablets?
The parents and kids want to learn. The trouble is that the parents feel the kids are more technically advanced than they are. This may be true. But this isn’t a problem with technology. It’s a human issue. The simple fact is that kids are not emotionally equipped to handle online responsibilities without parental intervention. The parents on the other hand are and that is where their guidance helps out the most.
