‘Most of our kids aren’t supervised while online’
ALMOST two thirds of children are browsing the internet without any supervision whatsoever, a project carried out by a BT Young Scientist entrant has found.
Róisín Cooney’s project Smart Parents? Smartphones saw her survey 170 students aged between 11 and 16, at her school, Coláiste Dún an Rí, in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, along with 150 of their parents.
Her survey for the science competition – which began yesterday – found that just 33.5% of children said they were supervised on their smartphone, even though 73% of parents claimed that they restricted their children’s use.
‘Either the parents were lying or they weren’t aware, or the children weren’t telling the truth,’ the second-year student said of her findings.
The 14-year-old also discovered that although the vast majority, 82%, of the parents said that their children had not experienced negativity online, ‘a good number’ of students said they had.
Róisín came up with the idea for the project after starting secondary school and realising that other students were allowed to use their device more freely than she was.
‘As soon as I got my phone, my phone usage was always restricted,’ she said.
‘But when I came into secondary school, I figured out that not everyone had their phone use restricted, so I wanted to see other parents’ views towards smartphone usage for their children.
‘One of the most shocking things I found was that the majority of people that did the survey got their phone before they were ten,’ she added. The junior cycle student said she hoped that her project would make parents more aware of the dangers of smartphones. ‘I want parents to know that there are dangers out there and to be able to help their child online and make sure they are safe,’ she said. ‘I think that’s a huge problem, getting bullied online. Not everyone is, but it’s a rising issue and it’s damaging young affecting people’s their school self-esteem work.’ and
According to research carried out by Zenith-Optimedia in 2016, some 20% of Irish children have been bullied online. President Michael D Higgins launched the 55th BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS yesterday. More than a thousand young scientists are taking part in this year’s event which runs until Saturday, with hundreds of exhibitions ranging in topics from environmental issues to fighting dementia and road safety. Speaking at the event yesterday, President Higgins said: ‘I am affirmed in my belief that we have many young people in this country who promise to become the problemsolvers, critical thinkers, and persistent learners that are so essential to the crafting of a shared and better future for all who share this fragile planet.
‘No responsible people, nation, community or body of citizens can afford any longer to ignore environmental issues, issues of growing inequality, obdurate global poverty and gender discrimination.’
More than 550 exhibits are being displayed in the RDS over the coming days, presented by 1,134 students representing 246 schools across Ireland.
Of the 550 projects put forward, 88 explored climate change and environmental issues, including examining the threat to the environment posed by habitat loss, harmful levels of heavy metals accumulating in soil and water, and how to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced every year.
‘Addressing climate change, sustainability, global hunger, poverty,
‘Either the parents or children are lying’
‘I want parents to know the dangers’
defining inequality, gender violence – all part of the sustainable Development Goals agreed in 2015, is the best contribution to global peace and social cohesion, international respect, and real diplomacy,’ said President Higgins. ‘That is why I hope that all of the creativity which is on display at this exhibition will find its way to where it is most needed.’
The Irish Daily Mail’s Protect Our Kids Online campaign has highlighted the effects of children using smartphones, with multiple experts outlining the damage they do to the mental and physical health of young people. A study reported in this paper just last week uncovered further evidence that social media is damaging the mental health of young people.
The research on nearly 11,000 14year-olds, was carried out by the University College of London and found that more than a third of 14-year-old girls who were heavy social media users suffer from clinical levels of depression.
The study also revealed that teenage girls are more likely than boys to suffer from depressive symptoms that are linked to social media use.
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