In 2018, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner released the ‘State of Play – Youth, Kids and Digital Dangers’ report which surveyed kids as young as the age of 8 through to young people aged 17 about their digital behaviours. It is interesting to note that even though the age is 13 to sign up on many digital media platforms, 8-year-olds were still found to be increasingly engaged and participating in the online world. As kids are born into a digital environment it is easy to see how family and peers engaging in daily online use can influence them to embrace these behaviours as a matter of course. Likewise, as they progress through their schooling, they are introduced to the necessity of a having digital profiles.
The evidence is clear that young people are more protected and make better decisions when an adult takes an interest in what they are doing online. The first step is to open lines of communication, so that children are talking with the parents, guardians, and educators about what they are doing online.