Parents must have safety net for kids

Experts warning over risk of exposure to dodgy content

EXPERTS are using Safer Internet Day today to highlight the vital importance of child safety online.

The joint messaging from Ireland's online safety charity Cyber Safe Kids and the National Parents Council carries statistics to show childrens relationship with the web.

A spokesperson for their Same Rules Apply campaign said: Some 50 per cent of children surveyed said they spend too much time online’.

“And 30 per cent of children said they can go online whenever they want’.

“Some 22 per cent had seen something online in the last year that they wouldn't want their parents to know about’.

“These findings are from a Cyber Safe Kids survey of 1,600 children, aged 8 to 12, from last September to last month.

“The Same Rules Apply campaign is an online safety parental awareness initiative to highlight a need to approach parenting children online in the same way that we approach parenting them offline’