Children and the internet: what happens when we forgo education
Research commissioned by the British communications regulator Ofcom shows that a third of internet users between the ages of eight and 17 lie about their age and claim to be older than they are, which has a major impact on the prevention of abuse of all kinds, the use of hyper-targeted advertising and other potentially harmful content, as well as on the responsibility of companies. This finding is highly likely to occur in many other countries.
The research shows what we already knew: a very high percentage of young users lie to gain access to certain networks or services, in many cases with the complicity of parents who try to prevent their children from being marginalized in an environment in which many of their peers already have access, with the result that, given that their profiles continue to turn 18, they become theoretically adult users when, in many cases, they are only aged 13 or 14.
The problem, obviously, is about use, so much as an educational system that refuses to accept its responsibility to educate young people about the web, and prefers, because it is easier, to ban smartphones in schools. A blatant irresponsibility that…
