Mumbai, according to recent survey, now has the dubious record of the maximum number of children, 40%, accessing adult content online.
The family protection survey by e-security firm McAfee covered 500 children in the age group of 4 to 12, and 496 parents. Of the children surveyed, 21% said they access adult content online.
The survey was conducted across New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin.
Mumbai also had the highest number of children bullied online, 33% while 100% said they were victims of cyber hacking, cyber frauds and identity theft. More disturbingly, 33% of children between the age groups of 4-8 watched adult content in the city.
A finding that Dr Alka Subramanyam, child psychiatrist from the Nair hospital thinks could be a mistake. “Though findings of the survey depend on the way things have been reported to the surveyors, children of that age would not know what they are accessing,” she said.
Psychologist Seema Hingorrany agrees that children these days are more tech savvy and inquisitive. “They either lie to their parents and go to cyber cafes and access adult sites or sit at home and do this. Since they are not mature enough, the content viewed by children is unprocessed and affects them,” she adds.
Anindita Mishra a child consultant and part of the Cybermum Project of McAfee said that it was usually curiosity that led children to access unknown websites and sites with adult content. Besides, “Easy access of gadgets with internet facility is major reason for exposure of kids to the internet,” she said.
The survey revealed that 91% of kids accessed internet from homes implying that parents had to be more involved in their children’s online activities. Mishra advises parents to use protection software or create filters so that they are aware of what their children are accessing.
What should worry parents more is the fact that 39% of children have not told their parents about their online activities and 12% have shared their parents’ credit card details online. Dhiraj Mehta, a parent believes that the large amount of broadband penetration in the city and the presence of personal computers in most homes is the reason behind Mumbai’s dubious copy.
“Access to any site is easily possible and can only be avoided through some control over their activities and regular watch,” he said.
Via: DNAIndia