Friday, 26th June 2015
Internet Safety organisation Internet Matters has launched a new campaign to urge parents to play a more active role in keeping their children safe online. The campaign highlights the importance of parental controls in the digital age.
A series of powerful video clips [link to playlist on YouTube here] have been created by Internet Matters to shine a light on the real risks of children using the internet without parental controls.
The Protect Their Curiosity campaign urges parents to activate safety filters on all computers, search engines, apps, smartphones and tablets to encourage children to be able to explore the digital world in a safer environment. Child actors have been used for the project to show how "an innocent search can turn bad in one click" on topics of pornography, violence, cyber-bullying and image sharing.
Carolyn Bunting, General Manager for Internet Matters, said: "The internet is the most important invention of our time – if not all time. As parents, we should encourage our children to explore and enjoy the freedom of the Internet. But we have a responsibility to protect their curiosity and prevent them from seeing stuff they don’t want to see.
In one of the films, a young boy innocently searches a video-sharing service for films about ‘Pirates’. As well as the expected content, he is able to easily find a video of Somali pirates being killed by private security firms and mercenaries.
Carolyn Bunting added: “The videos might be uncomfortable viewing, but we wanted to show the reality of how a child’s innocent curiosity can turn into a distressing experience in just one click. Kids want to use the web in safety. They don’t want to be scared of what they might click on. A big step towards this lies with parents switching on every parental control available.
"Setting parental controls is easy, and means parents and children can benefit from the very best of the Internet without any of the worry. However, according to our research, more than half of parents haven’t done it. Enabling these will go a long way towards ensuring children are safer in the digital world."
Watch the "Protect Their Curiosity" videos here
Go to Internet Matters to find out how you can keep your child safe online: http://www.internetmatters.org/controls/interactive-guide/
The web’s packed with fun and knowledge for your kids to explore. But just like in the real world, there are things we all need to watch out for.
To help you keep up with the what’s happening online including the latest apps and crazes, we’re asking the people who are best placed to give you the lowdown – kids.