In a chilling new report, a staggering 40% of Australian children aged between 8 and 15 have revealed they are being regularly contacted by strangers online.
But that’s not the only disturbing statistic – 21% of these children say they’ve been pushed to move conversations onto encrypted chat platforms, raising serious concerns about online safety.
Even more alarming, 49% of kids report encountering distressing content on social media or messaging apps that they wish they hadn’t seen. This includes everything from violent images to explicit material, leaving many young users feeling scared and unsettled.
In fact, a concerning 32% of Aussie children say they have been directly exposed to or sent sexual or violent content via their phones.
These shocking findings come from a global survey conducted by Finnish phone manufacturer HMD, which questioned over 12,000 parents and children across the UK, US, Australia, India, and Germany in January. The data paints a grim picture of the risks children face in today’s digital world.
Even more unsettling, the global survey shows that 37% of children worldwide have had a stranger attempt to move them to an encrypted chat – a tactic often used to evade detection and keep these interactions hidden from parents or authorities.
But it’s not just the dangers of online predators that are troubling the younger generation. Many Aussie children are expressing dissatisfaction with the constant presence of smartphones in their lives, with 49% reporting that they are deeply upset or frightened by some of the things they’ve encountered online.
The findings highlight an urgent need for stronger online safety measures and greater awareness of the dangers lurking in the digital world. As technology continues to evolve, so too must our efforts to protect the most vulnerable from harm.
The survey also indicates that nearly all kids understand why their parents might want to monitor their phone use, and two-thirds reported feeling pressured to have a phone because everyone around them had one.
Child and adolescent clinical psychologist Dr Grace Hancock says the results showed the country needed to “better protect kids” and “manage this risk”.
“We have a great opportunity with 94 per cent of Australian children understanding that their parents may want to check their phone use,” she said.
The survey comes after the federal parliament introduced a world-first ban on social media for users under the age of 16, which was legislated in December last year.
The law prohibits teens from using social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, and Facebook. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the legislation aims to help young Australians build healthier relationships.
“One of the things I want to see is young Australians, older too, having conversations with each other,” he said.
State parliaments have also moved to clamp down on smartphones, including banning the devices during school hours.
Mr Albanese said those reforms had already delivered positive outcomes.
“There’s more concentration in classrooms, they’re playing with each other at play lunch and engaging with others in a face-to-face way,” he said.
Before the federal government’s action, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas advocated for a state-based social media ban for kids.
Speaking at the Adelaide Convention Centre in October, Mr. Malinauskas revealed that his wife, Annabel, had become concerned about children being absorbed by social media after reading The Anxious Generation by US social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
Meanwhile, an eSafety report revealed widespread underage use of social media and highlights the lack of effective measures to prevent children from signing up.
According to the report, Australian children are easily bypassing the inadequate and poorly enforced age restrictions set by major social media platforms. Most platforms only require kids to self-declare their age during sign-up, leaving minimal safeguards in place.
The most popular platforms for children under 13 include YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. Notably, YouTube is the only platform that allows underage users access through a family account with parental supervision.
Responses from major platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Discord, and Twitch, covering the period between January and July 2024, show that creating an account as a child under 13 is a straightforward process.
The most popular platforms for children under 13 include YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. Notably, YouTube is the only platform that allows underage users access through a family account with parental supervision.
