3 February 2010

With Safer Internet Day (9 February) approaching, an online survey has found that fewer than half of young people follow e-safety guidelines.

The survey, of 3,348 young people in the Midlands aged 10-15 years , was carried out by Youthworks Consulting and covered online activity, e-safety education and experiences of cyberbullying. While almost nine out of ten had received e-safety education at school, just over four out of ten always acted on what they had learnt. More than a third of the young people said that they had tried to get past blocks restricting their access to certain websites and 89 per cent are able to use a computer at home with adult supervision.

The survey also found that almost half  (48 per cent)of the respondents had experienced at least one form of cyber abuse online and more than a quarter (28 per cent) had experienced at least one form of phone abuse. Fewer than half (48 per cent) told someone and got  help.

The full report can be downloaded from the Youthworks website