Children as young as eight exposed to ‘disturbing and damaging’ online content

Belfast Telegraph - 16:59
Children as young as eight are being routinely exposed to “disturbing and damaging” content online, with teachers seeing the fallout in classrooms across the island of Ireland, a teachers’ conference has been told.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (Into) adopted a resolution at its annual congress demanding immediate action to protect children from harmful digital environments and to hold social media companies accountable for their failings.

Last September, CyberSafeKids published a report revealing that 65% of children aged eight to 12 in Ireland had been contacted by a stranger online.

It found that a quarter of these children reported being upset or negatively affected by harmful content, including scams, harassment, horror imagery and sexually explicit material.

A similar number reported being distressed by unwanted and unsolicited contact.

The Into conference was told that these children are deeply affected, with some experiencing severe distress, and teachers and parents reporting signs of anxiety and emotional withdrawal.

Into has demanded that the Government holds social media platforms to account where they fail to provide a saf...
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