When it comes to children’s access to the internet, parents in Northern Ireland are among the most cautious in the UK, according to a research by Ofcom.
Twnety-three per cent of parents of children who use the internet at home in Northern Ireland think that the benefits of the internet do not outweigh any risks to their child, almost double the amount of parents of children in the UK (12%).
Northern Ireland parents, similar to all UK parents feel that they know enough about how to help their child to stay safe when they are online (82% compared with 81%).
The research ‘Media Literacy in the Nations’ shows that 43% of parents in Northern Ireland are concerned about what their children watch on television and 35% parents about what their children can access through their mobile phones.
Over four in ten children in Northern Ireland who use the internet at home say they mostly use the internet alone, and around one quarter of Northern Ireland children have internet access in their bedroom.
Children aged 8-15 in Northern Ireland are less likely than all UK children to say they have lessons at school about the internet (63% compared with 79%), but 96% of children in Northern Ireland say they have been given some information about staying safe online.
According to the report, parents in Northern Ireland are stricter about TV viewing with 89% of parents in Northern Ireland have rules about their children’s TV viewing compared with 80% across the UK.
Adults in Northern Ireland claim to spend less time (2.1 hrs) per week using the internet at their place of work or education than the UK average (3.8 hours), despite the difference in overall usage being relatively small.
The research also revealed that parents in Wales whose child uses each media are more likely to have concerns about media content on television, mobile phones and gaming devices than the UK average.
According to the research, 45% of parents in Wales are concerned about content on television, compared to 30% of parents across the UK, and 36% are concerned about the content of games compared to the UK average of 23%.
Around one quarter (23%) of parents in Wales say they have PIN or password controls set on their television services, compared with the UK average of 36%.
Nearly nine in ten (87%) parents of internet users in Wales say their child has been taught how to use the internet safely at school. This is higher than the measure for the UK as a whole (78%).
Children in Wales are as likely as all UK children to say that they have ever watched online or downloaded TV content from broadcasters’ websites (24% in Wales compared with 25% in the UK).
They are also as likely to say that they have set up a page or profile on a social networking website (57% compared with 55% in UK), to have created a character that lives or plays in the online world or to have uploaded photos to the internet (34% compared with 39% in the UK).
