Internet Safety Statistics

I was doing some research online about online safety for young children and I came across a site displaying a couple of statistics all from a number of sources. One of these being a book published in 2010 called "Social Media and Young Adults" by Amanda Lenhart, Kristen Purcell, Aaron Smith, Kathryn Zickuhr. For all refrences click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page.

http://www.netsmartz.org/safety/statistics
The statistics all reflect young children between the ages of 12 and 17, and their participation within the media culture. The site displays just how online issues are affecting children within society today.

I thought this site may be of some use as our taget audience includes 12 year olds so it may give us some insight to their doings on the internet. Also it may give us a greater understanding of the dangers that are a potential threat to children using the website and just how much they affect them.

All the stats below are refrenced from the netsmartz website:

Access

• 93% of teens (12-17) go online.
• Of the children (0-5) who use the internet, 80% use it at least once a week.

Cyberbullying

• 1 in 3 teens (12-17) have experienced online harassment.
• Girls are more likey to be victims of cyberbullying (38% girls vs 26% boys)

Online Gaming

• 97% of teens (12-17) play computer, web, portable, or console games.
• 27% of teens (12-17) play games with people they don't know online.

Predators

• Predators seek youths, vulnerable to seduction, including those with histories of sexual or physical abuse, those who post sexually provocative photos/videos, and those who talk about sex  with unknown people online.
• Boys who are gay or questioning their sexuality are particularly at risk. 25% of victims are boys and almost all of their offenders are male.
• 1 in 25 youths received an online sexual solicitation where the solicitor tried to make offline contact.
• In more than one-quarter (27%) of incidents, solicitors asked youths for sexual photographs of themselves.

Social Networking

• 73% of teens (12-17) have profiles on social networking sites.
• 47% of teens (12-17) have uploaded photos; 14% have posted videos.

Looking at these stats I have a greater understanding of why the CBBC site has such a high restrictions in maintaining the protection of their users. These stats surprised me slightly because I didn't think that the percentages would be so high. I knew that children had access to the internet but I never imagined that there would be such a high number, especially 93% accessing to it. It just shows how much the internet has become apart of our lives and how it influences us each and every day.

With so many users online, and with so many users being of a young age there is no doubt that the actions the BBC are taking on the CBBC website are fundamental. Although as I have stated before that some of the restrictions may be the beneficial factor to drawing people away from the site. So we need to find a good balance of keeping the site as safe as possible, but reducing the restrictions so that a wider range of things can be done on the site to keep users interested.

Also whilst looking at these stats it came to me that we have mainly been focusing our attention on the target age with have been given, but shouldn't gender also be something to look at? does the CBBC website cater to one sex more than the other? Which gender uses the site more? Which gender is more at risk being on the CBBC site?
I thought maybe these are some facts that we could potentially draw our attention to.