More than one third of children in Ireland see sexual images online at least monthly, according to an assessment of research on internet safety.
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) review, published on Thursday, uses international research on children’s technology use to consider the challenges of parenting in a digital era.
A 2021 survey carried out by the National Advisory Council for Online Safety (Nacos), pointed to the monthly exposure to sexual content. It also found 6 per cent of children saw such images on a daily or almost daily basis.
“Parents are often considered the first, last, and strongest line of defence for their children’s online safety”, the ESRI said, yet face digital risks themselves such as overuse of their technological devices, among other challenges.
It acknowledged the “numerous benefits” of digital technologies such as “access to information, educational tools, and social connection”, but said these technologies can also pose risk to children and adolescents’ wellbeing.
One challenge highlighted in the review is problematic internet usage among children, involving a loss of control surrounding smartphone usage.
In Ireland, one in ten children report not eating or sleeping to continue using the internet, said a 2021 Nacos survey.
The review also noted a “growing concern that boys and young men are particularly susceptible to content spread by high-profile manosphere influencers”.
It said that “manosphere” content, which promotes antifeminist and misogynistic discourse online, is “actively amplified through the recommender algorithms of social media platforms”.
Work by Amnesty International noted how Tiktok’s algorithms exposed young people to “rabbit holes of mental illness, self-harm and suicide related content”.
The review also considers the impact of “thinspiration”, content that idealises and endorses bodily thinness among young people.
Viewing just eight minutes of content glamorising thin bodies and disordered eating can be enough to worsen body satisfaction in men and women. In Ireland, it is estimated that only 46 per cent of adolescents were satisfied with their bodies.
Research considered in the ESRI review found that parents’ screen time is, in turn, “a strong predictor of young children’s screen time”, adding that excessive phone usage among parents predicts a lack of control over their children’s future phone usage.
International observational studies conducted at playgrounds, restaurants and swimming pools reveal that parents frequently use their phones while spending time with their children. A 2020 study found almost eight in 10 parents used their phones while at a playground.
Dr Celine Fox, lead author of the review, said “there is an urgent need for better research to more accurately measure the impact of digital technologies on children’s wellbeing and what can be done to mitigate the risks”.
“Digital technologies evolve rapidly, so the true extent of the challenges faced by parents and children in the digital era is likely not yet fully understood.”
The review concluded that the safety of children online can be considered “a public health problem requiring public health interventions”.
Professor Joyce O’Connor, Chair of BlockW, which funded the research, said children’s online safety should not be a “burden parents carry alone”, but shared between “families, schools, platforms and policymakers”.
