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Ofcom asks: Do kids believe anything they read on the internet?

Survey finds strong parental support for smut-blockers

Ofcom’s annual survey of digital literacy amongst children reveals strong support from parents for tools to limit or block net access - and some gullibility amongst children.

While Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to make network filters compulsory – irritating compulsive onanists across the UK. But the evidence suggests a high awareness of voluntary filters amongst parents. Half of parents use some kind of technical tool, such as a content-blocker or time manager, for controlling the time their five- to 15-year-olds spend online.

There’s strong support for ISP network level filters, with 97 per cent of parents finding them useful, and a vast majority agreeing that they block about the right amount of content. 21 per cent thought their child would be able to circumvent the controls they install. 12 per cent of parents of 12-15s however don’t mediate their children's internet access at all.

But there’s more scepticism about the value of the controls, too: in 2005, only five per cent of parents using blocking controls thought their children could circumvent them, but in 2015, 29 per cent thought they’d be able to override home network filters, and 21 per cent thought they’d be able bypass parental control software. More parents use parental controls on TVs than 10 years ago, as Virgin and Sky make them easier to find and use.

While 50 per cent of search engine users aged 12-15 make some type of critical judgment about search engine results, believing that some of the sites returned will be truthful while others may not be, one in five (19 per cent) believe that if a search engine lists information then it must be true, and a similar proportion (22 per cent) don’t consider the veracity of results but just visit the sites they like the look of. This is unchanged since 2014.

In 2009 Ofcom found that one-third of children believe Google ranks its search results in order of truthfulness. This has fallen, a bit:

Perhaps they merely reflect the gullibility of their parents. It would have been interesting to submit the parents to a gullibility test as well, and then compare the results.

Children tended to believe what Google told them, and not to notice paid advertising or sponsored (“native”) content.

“Less than one in six 8-11s and a third of 12-15s in 2015 are able to correctly identify advertising displayed in online search results,” Ofcom’s research found.

“Their attention was drawn to the first two results at the top of the list, which were distinguished by an orange box with the word ‘Ad’ written in it. Despite this labelling, only a minority of 8-11s (16 per cent) and 12-15s (31 per cent) correctly identified these sponsored links as advertising. “

Less than half of 12-15s are aware of paid endorsements by video bloggers (vloggers) or personalised advertising.

Children are more sensible than supposed, however, when it comes to befriending strangers: only seven per cent of 12-15s say they had added people as "friends" with whom they had only had online contact.

Ofcom also found that NGOs will have to work harder to rear the next generation of slacktivists. (Parodied nicely here)

It found that: “In 2015, one per cent have signed an online petition and one per cent have expressed their social or political views online.”

Which brings a whole new meaning to the slogan: "We are the 99 per cent". ®

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