Cernikova et al (in State of Play (2018)) warns ‘An overly dominant focus on risky interactions, such as unwelcomed and potentially abusive adult contact overlooks the many other possible ways that young people can meet a stranger online. There are several services that young people use regularly where they get in touch with unknown people. These include social networking sites, online games, video sharing sites as well as blogging and discussion sites.’ Therefore, having regular conversations with kids and young people about their online interests is essential to understand their current potential for danger.
When engaging online with friends it can feel as though you are in a personal, private bubble yet, as we all know, nothing online is private; everything online can be traced, hacked and used in ways we never intended.
Any type of online communication that has not been invited or is unwanted has the potential to be dangerous. Unknown attention can be unpleasant and confronting and images that arrive uninvited can be shocking, offensive or obscene. While predators and exploitation are at the extreme of unwanted communication, the prevalence of trolls and trolling behaviour online is a very unpleasant reality that must be faced.
Kids and young people can come into contact with trolls; ‘people who troll want to start arguments and stir up trouble’ (Headspace 2023). They do this by posting comments or saying negative things to deliberately upset people. Provoking an emotional reaction is how a troll measures success and understanding this may help kids and young people to avoid and, or, deal with them. The realisation that trolling behaviour can directly affect them can be a reality check for some and while it is important to warn about the dangers we don’t want to frighten and alarm kids and young people unnecessarily. Therefore supporting them to navigate the online world effectively and safely provides them with an important and necessary skill for life.
One of the real challenges facing kids and young people is that when they are contacted online by people they don’t know it doesn’t immediately raise alarm bells. Cernikova et al (2018 in State of Play p. 13) states ‘Qualitative studies have shown that as they move from non-verbal interactions to initial contact, communication and face-to-face meetings, young people often evaluate their interactions with online strangers to see if they are going to be problematic, and need to be stopped. (Cernikova et al., 2018 in State of Play p. 13). They many rationalise that if posts are designed to attract attention then being noticed and complimented must be good. ‘With increasing intensity of interactions, young people can turn initial exchanges with online strangers into real world and online friendships (Cernikova et al., 2018 in State of Play p. 13).
It is sobering to learn that The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) reported 21,688 incoming reports of child exploitation in the year 2019/2020 which had increased from 14,165 in the previous year (Australian Federal Police). The instances of predators getting access to children and young people are alarming and should motivate educators and parents to act to protect them.
When discussing trolling and meeting strangers online with kids and young people the adults involved must have thought through how they are going to raise the subject. The conversation needs to be factual and contain practical steps to follow whenever they are in doubt about unwanted communications. The challenge is to find a way to present the subject as a problem that can be solved rather than a perpetrator/victim scenario that is out of their control. The Federal Police urge people to start the conversation about online safety with children from an early age and ‘continue talking with them regularly throughout all stages of their lives’ (2023).