GEORGE TOWN: NATIONWIDE survey of schoolchildren’s Internet surfing habits has revealed that more needs to be done to secure and monitor their activities online.
The DiGi CyberSAFE in Schools (CyberSAFE) 2014 report, commissioned by DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd and its CyberSAFE in Schools programme partners, revealed that eight out of 10 children were vulnerable from a lack of protective actions taken.
It was also discovered that many schoolchildren were more likely to communicate with strangers, which was risky.
The survey gathered responses from some 14,000 schoolchildren aged between 9 and 17 who participated in nationwide CyberSAFE in Schools workshops for nine months. It examined several dimensions of Internet-related behaviour: online safety, cyberbullying, support networks and personal concerns.
One of the key findings of the survey was children, regardless of urban or rural areas — did not protect themselves online with a large number saying they took no or little action for online safety.
DiGi Associate Principal of Communications and Corporate Responsibility and DiGi CyberSAFE programme manager Philip Ling said parents and teachers should be more savvy about Internet nanny tools.
Ling said many parents let their children use their iPads and smartphones without much supervision.
“Our survey also showed that parents who placed computers in the living room with usage restrictions for their children had not made a significant impact on Internet safety.
“With iPads and other devices, parents must ensure that they enable the safe mode on most search engines and websites, such as Google and YouTube.
“Adults play an important role in teaching children the dos and don’ts when they’re online. About 40 per cent of schoolchildren do not know how to protect themselves online.”
Ling said the survey revealed a worrying trend among children, that they were not afraid to expose themselves to strangers.
“An average of 70 per cent of schoolchildren were not concerned with the invasion of their privacy or the anonymity of the person they interacted with.
“These results revealed that the lack of safety awareness among young children called for immediate action,” Ling said.
Those having the highest percentage of little or no safety were Kelantan at 70 per cent, followed by Kuala Lumpur at 59 per cent and Perlis at 58 per cent.
The highest awareness of online safety were from Sarawak at 23 per cent, Johor at 21 per cent and Terrengganu at 18 per cent.
Meanhwile, children in the survey said they had been bullied online at least once, especially among those aged 13 to 15.
However, more males reported that they had been bullied online compared with females.
As far as the urban-rural strata are concerned, more urban children indicated that they had been bullied, although they practised a higher level of safety.
The level of online harassment is reportedly high at above 70 per cent, especially for calling other children mean names, posting improper messages and inappropriate photos. Some 64 per cent of children felt that sending undesirable text messages, posting inappropriate photos and pretending to be someone else were not considered cyberbullying.
The survey found Perak had the highest incidences of cyberbullying at 41 per cent, followed by Johor at 32 per cent and Labuan at 28 per cent.
CyberSAFE and its partners had trained some 500 Bestari teachers nationwide to educate students about online safety.
The CyberSAFE programme
is a public-private partnership initiated by the Minstry of Education, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, CyberSecurity Malaysia, Childline and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.