Fun, Friends, Fears & Fallacies
NEW! Our first specially adapted Cybersurvey for primary aged children reveals the richness of their digital lives and how 8yr olds are eagerly using multiple devices. at home.
This dive into children's digital world will help us all realise how embedded digital life is in their everyday experience.
'I would use my dad’s phone to do times tables rockstars’ Boy, 8
‘I use a phone, or a laptop, or Nintendo Switch or ipad.’ Girl, 9
'I programme in Roblox and am an overall developer.’ Boy, 9
We hear from enterprising 9yr olds and those even younger who are using multiple devices at home. Their sheer joy in the creatvity and possibilities technology offers them is tempered by adults restricting them, upsetting content and scams or scary people. Some 8% do not have any access.
The challenge of teaching them to be safe online is exposed by their responses:
65% say they learned new things from the online safety advice parents or teachers gave them, 64% found it ‘a bit helpful’, only 34% thought 'it connected with my life'.
They may be at very different devlopmental levels and abilities, 22% found it hard to remember and 1 in 5 found it hard to understand. Further challenges include: 28% who said: ‘The rules are so strict that I can’t learn how to sort out problems myself.’ 34%: ‘It did not help with my issues’ and 23%: ‘I got it too late’.