How Hungarian children are being taught about online safety

A new survey shows that around 80% of parents are concerned about their children’s online safety, and around 50% of them experience great anxiety about their kids’ online activity. 

Hungarian parents know that the internet is the latest frontier in business, collaboration and communication, but they also know that criminals are using it to exploit their obsessions. If until a few years ago, parents worried if their children were happy and healthy, nowadays they are facing a new problem, they have to understand the extent to which their kids’ use of the internet is affecting their safety and privacy. 

It may sound surprising but studies show that 3-years children are actively using the internet, and their parents are the ones who introduced them to a mobile device to distract their attention. If an infant is given a phone, they will definitely adopt an online solution like Tinder, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter earlier than Millennials did it. 

A survey examined how informed parents are about cyber criminality and found out that more than 30% of them have poor education on the subject. However, even if most of them have no idea the threat cyber-attacks pose, they are confident they can stop them. 

But for parents to be able to guard themselves and their children, the Hungarian Government has created the Digital Child Protection Strategy, a program that has the goal to educate children and make them more aware of the dangers they expose themselves through online communication. This strategy supports a productive and conscious use of the Internet, but it also focuses on developing measures and regulations that can protect children. The Digital Child Protection Strategy lists the main skills parents and children have to acquire in order to guard themselves against the danger internet use poses. Some of these skills are the ability to identify harmful content and behaviour, technological skills, awareness of the opportunities the internet is offering, but also of the threats excessive use can bring.  

The program lists some of the most dangerous threats children are exposed to when they browse the internet. 

• They can be the victim of manipulation and deception, through the texts shared by the media. 

• They can also be exposed to encoded speech or hate speech, some of them being the target of this type of discourse while others being instigated to take part in this type of activities. 

• Social media often presents outsiders as criminals, based on their race and religion. 

• Alongside these threats, internet use can also lead to addiction, children can easily develop a passion for online games and non-stop use of social media. 

• The mediatisation of the perfect body is also a common threat for children. They are exposed to the culture of the body and can develop problems like sexual identity, the role of men and women in society, body dimorphism, and mental health conditions. 

• Extensive use of the internet can make children the target of sexual abusers, paedophiles, bullies and stalkers. 

Other programs that try to make the internet a safer place for children