The Role of the Children’s Commissioner:
For most children there is no longer a clear distinction between their online and offline lives. The amount of time children spend online has more than doubled, from 4.4 hours a week in 2005 to 11.1 hours in 2015 for 8-11 year olds and from 8 hours to 18.9 hours for 12-15 year olds.[1]
Whilst the online world has created incredible opportunities for young people to explore, experiment, socialise, create and educate themselves in ways which were previously undreamt of, it has also exposed children to the risk of harm, including from seeing extreme pornography and from sexting.
Protecting children from potential harm and educating them about both the physical and online worlds are shared responsibilities in which parents, carers and grandparents, governments, policy-makers and educators, and importantly, industry, all have vital roles to play.
This year, the Children’s Commissioner, together with the NSPCC and Middlesex University examined how many children and young people are being exposed to online pornography and what impact it is having[2].
The findings of this research showed that where children were accessing pornography, it was just as likely to be viewed accidentally as deliberately and that children quickly become desensitised on subsequent viewing.
Who has seen online pornography?
- 28% of 11-12 year olds report having seen pornography which rises to 65% at age 15-16.
- Children were statistically as likely to stumble across pornography accidentally as to search for it deliberately.
- More boys view pornography by choice than girls.
Feelings and attitudes towards online pornography
- On first viewing pornography, young people report a mixture of emotions, including curiosity (41%), shock (27%), and confusion (24%).
- Shock and confusion quickly subsides on repeated viewing, whether it is deliberately sought out or accidentally viewed.
- 53% of boys reported pornography was realistic compared to 39% of girls.
Risks and harms
- 44% of boys compared to 29% of girls reported the pornography they viewed had given them ideas about emulating what they had seen.
- 21% of 11-12 year olds wanted to emulate what they had seen compared to 39% of 13-14 year olds and 42% of 15-16 year olds.
- 26% of those surveyed has been sent links to online pornography and 4% had sent others pornography.
‘Sexting’
- None of the children in focus groups described sexting as taking and sharing self-generated photographs of naked bodies or body parts. Rather, they interpreted sexting as writing or sharing explicit or intimate words.
- Only 7% of the surveyed children reported sending naked or semi-naked photos of themselves onto others.
- Only some of those who were 15-16 knew how to remove intimate images of themselves from the internet via ChildLine and the IWF partnership.
Young people’s views on intervention
- The participants called for the importance of more education about pornography delivered in a relevant and engaging way. Young people wanted to be able to find out about sex, relationships and pornography in ways that were safe and credible.
With smartphones overtaking laptops as the most popular device on which to access the internet[3], children and young people are almost always a few taps away from seeing potentially harmful and distressing material. It is clear, whether intentionally or not, that young people are viewing pornography and it is important that parents, carers, teachers, and government respond to that.
Last autumn, the Children’s Commissioner set up a Digital Taskforce of policy, legal and technology experts, along with a group of young people, to explore children’s experiences of growing up in an increasingly digital world.
Children are now offered unlimited opportunities to participate, create and socialise and it is important that every child has access to that potential. The Commissioner however intends to ensure that the same protections that apply to children online also apply to them offline and that digital platforms and service providers are doing all they can to protect these rights.
This Taskforce will have three major outputs and will be reporting in early 2017. First, we will write a General Comment to be submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified at a time when the internet was still in its infancy and consequently, there are currently no digital-age specific interpretations of each article despite this now being an integral part of a child’s life. The Committee acknowledges this gap.
A General Comment therefore is an essential and timely contribution. It will provide a clear interpretation of the existing rights structure with regard to how it applies to the digital environment. This Comment is being drafted in collaboration with Dr Sonia Livingstone and in consultation with the UN Committee and international interested parties.
Secondly, the Commissioner’s Taskforce is also exploring how children’s rights are currently understood and incorporated by the providers and platforms they use. Through discussions with the major internet service providers, social media and telecommunication companies as well as others, the Commissioner will map how the industry views children’s rights and where this is reflected in the design and delivery of their products and services. This will go further than establishing how well children and young people are protected from harmful content and contact online but will establish who takes a broader understanding of children’s rights, and how this is done effectively.
This will culminate in a map of how well industry engages with a child’s right to be heard and informed as well as how well they are protected. In doing this, the Commissioner intends to highlight best practice as well as the gaps in current attitudes and provision.
Finally, the Commissioner will look to launch unique digital content, in collaboration with the Children’s BBC. This content will help children and young people to better understand their rights in a digital context and what this means with regard to the apps and websites they sign up to and use every day.
Alongside the Digital Taskforce, the Commissioner has also convened a Parenting Expert Group to provide advice to parents to help them navigate their children’s increasingly complex digital lives. Experts from Mumsnet, Parent Gym and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust will look at how parents can best support their children to make the most of the opportunities offered by digital engagement whilst ensuring they stay safe and healthy.
The Commissioner has heard from parents that they struggle to keep up with children's digital activities with increasing worries about the impact of digital time on their wellbeing. Whilst most parents understand the benefits that the digital world can bring, they can often feel at a loss of how to offer guidance and ensure that children can be supported to ‘switch off’ when necessary.
The Group hopes to report their key findings and advice in February 2017.
August 2016
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[1] http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/children-parents-nov-15/childrens_parents_nov2015.pdf
[2] https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/ MDX%20NSPCC%20OCC%20pornography%20report%20June%202016.pdf