Ofcom Report Sept 2009 Children’s and young people’s access to online content on mobile devices, games consoles and portable media players _access.pdf _access.pdf Extracted by Ian Gover

Purpose to give an overview of children’s reported access to content when using mobile phones, games consoles and portable media players a particular focus on experiences of “inappropriate content” conducted in March/April 2009 in the UK comprising 797 face-to-face interviews with children aged 7-16 and their parent/carer.

Device Ownership Children aged 7-16 own or have use of a…

More detail…. In addition to the differences by age, the findings show that boys are more likely than girls to have a games console (96% vs. 88%), whereas girls are more likely than boys to have a mobile phone (77% vs. 71%).

Online Access 74% of children have mobile phones – –Only 9% go online 92% of children have games consoles – –Only 14% go online 13% of children have a portable media player – –Only 2% go online

Use on mobile phone online

Mobile phone activity

Games Console use

Inappropriate content Very few children and say they have encountered content that made them ‘feel uncomfortable, upset, scared or worried, or which they think they were too young to see’ while using a mobile phone (either offline or online), or a games console or portable media player online

Concerns Only 5% of parents stated concerns about the material that their children could access on a mobile phone Only 5% of parents stated concerns about the material that their children could access on a mobile phone 10% of parents stated concerns about the material that they could receive on a games console 10% of parents stated concerns about the material that they could receive on a games console Concerns were ’too adult’ Concerns were ’too adult’ No parents were concerned about the content available on a media console No parents were concerned about the content available on a media console Concerns were ‘too violent’ or ‘bad language’ Concerns were ‘too violent’ or ‘bad language’

Rules of use – mobile phones

Rules of Use – Games Consoles

What is Inappropriate material – parents views

Reporting inappropriate content Among the small minority of children and young people who say they have experienced ‘inappropriate’ when using either a mobile phone (4%), games console (5%) or portable media player (0%)

Mobile Phone The report did not find evidence that anything inappropriate which was experienced by children and young people occurred while they were using a mobile phone to go online via a mobile ‘gated’ portal. many of the cases reported, the young people involved were not online at all, with the inappropriate material concerned tending to come to them via a text/SMS or photo/video.

Mobile phone 2 The most frequently mentioned type of content was material with a sexual content followed by something rude “Inappropriate material” most often reached children and young people in a text message or in a photo or video When the incident happened, most young people did tell someone. This was usually a parent/carer (14 children and young people). In three cases, the child or young person did not tell anyone because [they] didn’t think they needed to tell anyone

Children’s view of online safety info Respondents aged were asked what kind of help and advice they felt young people need to stay safe online. how to retain privacy and not share personal information (54%) how to retain security of information (28%) how to avoid inappropriate content (22%) A fifth (20%) mention advice about how to deal with cyber-bullying just over one in ten (12%) feel that children and young people need advice about how to report inappropriate content.

Parents view of what is needed

More detail Those in ABC1 households are significantly more likely than parents/carers in C2DE households to say that were this to happen, they would talk to their child about what they had seen (76% making any response compared with 67% respectively). Parents and carers of 7-12 year olds are more likely than those with older children to say they would add or change controls to limit access to certain content (39% versus 26%) or change their rules about the child’s use of the equipment concerned (35% compared with 24% respectively).

If they found inappropriate content - children

Who gave advice on online safety ‘three in ten 7-12 year olds say no one has talked to them about online safety’

Advice from young people – what to provide for others

Parents feeling they know enough to help their child stay safe The majority (79%) said ‘yes’, while 13% say ‘no’ and 8% say they ‘don’t know’ Amongst parents/carers who say they ‘don’t know’, those in DE households are more likely than other parents to say this