Volume 12 - Issue 69
/ September 2023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.69.09.25
How to Cite:
Lubenets, I., Kulyk, O., Kulakova, N., Lisnychenko, L., & Naumova, I. (2023). The problem of child safety in the digital
space. Amazonia Investiga, 12(69), 281-290. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.69.09.25
The problem of child safety in the digital space
ПРОБЛЕМА БЕЗПЕКИ ДИТИНИ В ЦИФРОВОМУ СЕРЕДОВИЩІ
Received: August 8, 2023 Accepted: September 15 , 2023
Written by:
Lubenets Iryna1
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2597-0356
Kulyk Oleksandr2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5172-8996
Kulakova Nataliia3
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4119-1686
Lisnychenko Liliia4
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2211-3105
Naumova Iryna5
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6643-0375
Abstract
The rapid development of digital technologies
has transformed the lives of children and young
people. The digital space offers children endless
opportunities to learn, play, communicate and
express themselves. However, it also poses a
number of risks and threats, such as
cyberbullying, grooming and exposure to
harmful content. The purpose of this article is to
analyze the current state of the criminological
safety of a child in the digital space based on a
survey among Ukrainian schoolchildren aged 11-
17. Our task is to determine the level of
awareness of teenagers about safe behavior on
the Internet, as well as to identify the most
common threats and assess the level of risky
behavior of Ukrainian children on the Internet.
The article emphasizes that the range of threats
to underage Internet users is much wider than to
adults due to the peculiarities of this age group.
Empirical research shows that schoolchildren
tend to act rather carelessly in the digital space,
particularly in regards to making new contacts
and communicating online. We believe that the
1
Candidate of Sciences in Jurisprudence, Senior Researcher, Leading Researcher of Research Laboratory of Criminological Research and
Crime Prevention Problems, State Research Institute of MIA of Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: ABT-0205-2022
2
Doctor of Law, Professor, Chief of the Research Laboratory of Criminological Research and Crime Prevention Problems, State
Research Institute of MIA of Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: Y-8425-2019
3
Candidate of Sciences in Jurisprudence, Аssistant professor, Professor of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Executive Law, National
Academy of Internal Affairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: JPK-9614-2023
4
Candidate of Sciences in Jurisprudence, Leading Researcher of Research Laboratory of Criminological Research and Crime Prevention
Problems, State Research Institute of MIA of Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: HLH-7841-2023
5
Senior Researcher of Research Laboratory of Criminological Research and Crime Prevention Problems, State Research Institute of
MIA of Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: JPL-0436-2023
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family and the school should play the dominant
role in familiarizing children with existing online
threats and the fundamentals of safe behavior in
the digital space.
Keywords: digital space, Internet, child, social
media, social network, survey.
Introduction
Modern communication media and the digital space
as a whole have permeated every sphere of society
to such a degree that picturing today’s life without
them is next to impossible.
According to Internet World Stats (2023), there are
5,3 billion Internet users in the world, i.e. 67,9% of
the world’s population (7,9 billion). As of January
2022, with a population of 43,3 million, Ukraine
had 40,9 million users, i.e. 94,5% of the entire
population (93,4% in 2019). 26,5 million of those
use Facebook (compared to 9,5 million Facebook
users in 2019) (Internet World Stats, 2023).
Thus, as statistics show, the number of Internet
users keeps growing, in no small part due to
children, who are among the most active users. The
age of Internet initiation is going down as well: it is
now common to find even preschoolers online,
while modern gadgets play the role of digital
babysitter. Modern technology gives today’s
schoolchildren access to digital libraries and
various websites of educational, informational, and
entertainment nature as well to free communication
unrestricted by people’s physical location. In other
words, the virtual space also serves as a means of
socializing, with social media like Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and the like making it possible
to maintain social connections even under difficult
circumstances (pandemics, wars, etc.), which helps
children, particularly adolescents, deal with
loneliness.
However, despite all the positive aspects of
progress in the field of digital technologies, one
also should not overlook the existence of a
negative side to it, namely the vast number of
threats present within the Internet environment,
especially for children. These include risks to
privacy, harmful content, fraud, cyberbullying,
grooming, sexual violence and exploitation, etc.
Moreover, recent events in the world and in
Ukraine (the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-
scale war in Ukraine) have further increased the
number of children that started using the Internet
for the first time to continue their studies and
maintain social connections. The time children
spend online has also risen dramatically, which
increases the risk of encountering the
aforementioned threats.
This shows that the issue of child safety in the
digital space has only become more relevant in
recent years and requires an in-depth study of its
various aspects, which is the purpose of our
article.
The study will help identify online threats to
children and help develop strategies to protect
them.
Theoretical Framework or literature review
Safe use of modern information and
communication technologies was studied by
Pazyuk and Chernykh (2016), Snitko (2014),
Udalova, Shved, Yevsyukova, Kuznetsova and
Kolesnikova (2010), Lytovchenko (2010) and
others.
The influence of the Internet on a child’s mind
was studied by such national and foreign
researchers as: Batyrgareyeva (2019),
Naidyonova (2012), Burov et al., (2018),
Sokurenko et al., (2021), Ciarrochi et al., (2016),
Park, Hong, Park, Ha and Yoo (2013),
Rodriguez, Garcia and Ventisca (2021) and
others.
Researchers from many different countries
dedicated their efforts to studying children’s
behavior in the digital space and the threats they
face on the Internet, in particular: Popadić,
Pavlović and Kuzmanović (2020); Ponte (2019),
Livingstone and Haddon (2009), Dewan (2022),
Frank, Frank, Honzík and Jakeš (2019), Lukić
(2022), Nain and Chaudhary (2022), Milosevic,
Kuldas, Sargioti, Laffan, Norman (2022),
Núñez-Gómez, Larranaga, Rangel and Ortega-
Mohedano (2021). UK scientists Livingstone
and Haddon (2009), researching the topic of
online risks for children, concluded that online
Lubenets, I., Kulyk, O., Kulakova, N., Lisnychenko, L., Naumova, I. / Volume 12 - Issue 69: 281-290 / September, 2023
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opportunities and online risks are inseparable.
Therefore, there is a need to constantly study
what children do online and what interests them.
Methodology
To achieve this, we made use of a range of
general and specialized research methods for
studying the socio-legal realities, which allowed
us to ensure the objectivity and reliability of
obtained data.
Thus, we used the dialectical method to identify
threats that minors face online as well as to find
basic measures for ensuring child safety in the
digital space. The comparative method was used
in our analysis of studies conducted in other
countries on children’s behavior in the digital
space and the most common online threats and
risk factors. The sociological method was
implemented during a survey among secondary
school students of Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast
regarding their online habits and understanding
of associated risks and threats, based on which
we formulated ways to prevent crimes against
children in the digital space. The descriptive
statistics method was used when analyzing the
survey’s results.
The survey was conducted in Kyiv and Kyiv
Oblast from November 2022 to February 2023 by
experts of the State Research Institute of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine among
secondary school students aged 11-17. The
sampling included two stages: a random
selection of schools followed by a random
selection of classes. All pupils in these classes
were offered to fill out questionnaires via Google
Forms. Sampling selection method: convenience
sample. The final selection includes 925 pupils,
with 364 (39,4%) boys and 561 (60,6%) girls.
Distribution by age is as follows: 11 years old –
17,1%, 12 years old – 13,9%, 13 years old –
15,9%, 14 years old – 17,8%, 15 years old –
14,7%, 16 years old – 15,8%, 17 years old –
4,8%. Thus, the respondents are distributed by
age almost evenly, with the exception of 17-year-
olds who make up only 4,8% of the total number
of respondents. The reason for this is the small
number of 10th and 11th grades in Ukrainian
schools. The sample is representative of the
general population in terms of gender and age.
Sources. The problem of online safety for
underage users is a priority for developed
countries and a focus for numerous institutions,
including international organizations,
government bodies, and NGOs, as well as law
enforcement agencies, educators, and researchers
from various fields.
Results and Discussion
The problem of online safety for underage users
is a priority for developed countries and a focus
for numerous institutions, including international
organizations, government bodies, and NGOs, as
well as law enforcement agencies, educators, and
researchers from various fields.
For today’s children, the Internet is not just a
source of information but also a means of
communication, socializing, and recreation – a
place where they spend a significant part of their
lives. The crises that occurred over the recent
years, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the
war in Ukraine, have clearly demonstrated how
important and irreplaceable digital technologies
have become to children.
However, every year, the amount of content that
depicts sexual violence involving children is
steadily increasing: according to a report by the
Internet Watch Foundation, the number of web
pages containing such content more than doubled
in 2022 compared to 2020 (51,369 and 25,050,
respectively) (Internet Watch Foundation, 2023,
April 25).
As the first step in our research on the state of
child safety in the digital space, we decided to
find out how much time per day on average
Ukrainian adolescents spend on the Internet.
Among the respondents, 36,5% reported that
they spend 4-6 hours on the Internet; 23,1% –
under 3 hours; almost every fifth (18,8%) – 7-9
hours. Two groups are of particular concern here:
the first includes 7,1% of respondents who spend
10-12 hours online daily, while those from the
second one (12,5%) are “always online,” i.e. they
effectively “live” in the digital space.
This situation is not limited to Ukrainian
schoolchildren. For instance, a survey among
1,350 Spanish children between the age of 6 and
12 showed that they spend 5 hours a day in front
of a screen on average. Also, during the
pandemic their use of mobile phones increased
by 38% (Núñez-Gómez et al., 2021).
Meanwhile, according to a study conducted by
Oxford researchers, the ideal time limit for using
a PC and other electronic devices in terms of
having a positive effect on a child’s brain is 4
hours and 17 minutes. It’s best for them to spend
no more than two hours using a smartphone and
no more than 100 minutes a day playing video
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games. This is sufficient time for developing
social connections and skills, while beyond that
gadgets starts negatively affecting the child’s
brain (Maximum, January 25, 2017).
Citing a survey by the NGO Parents Together
(conducted in April 2020), which found that the
bulk of the children’s time online is,
unfortunately, spent on entertainment rather than
educational content, the American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends that middle schoolers
spend no more than 2 hours per day in front of a
monitor for entertainment purposes (Kiselyova,
2023). Similar recommendations have been
voiced in Australia and Europe. Therefore, it is
necessary to consider not just the amount of time
spent by children online but also the nature of
their activities in the digital space, even though
the former is much easier for adults to control.
It’s also necessary to remember that children that
spend a lot of time online are prone to aggressive
behavior and outbursts of unmotivated violence
and cruelty even if they don’t play video games.
This was demonstrated by a survey by
Salwa Al Majali (2020) conducted among Dubai
schoolchildren aged 8-16: it shows that excessive
use of the Internet leads to aggression, increased
anxiety, depression, indifference toward others,
and irresponsible behavior. Furthermore, such
children have issues with communication and
overly impulsive behavior as well as a lack of
desire to help others. According to the author,
this shows that excessive use of the Internet has
a negative effect on children’s mental health and
may cause personality disorders (Al Majali,
2020).
We would also draw attention to the two-year
study by Jonathan Chu et al., who, in their work
“Screen time and suicidal behaviors among U.S.
children 9-11 years old: A prospective cohort
study” (2023), emphasize that each additional
hour of the total time spent in front of a screen
significantly increases the chances of suicidal
behavior in children. Having analyzed a number
of studies on this issue, namely Dunlop, More
and Romer (2011) “Where do youth learn about
suicides on the Internet, and what influence does
this have on suicidal ideation?”, Birbal Ria et al.
(2009) “Cybersuicide and the adolescent
population: challenges of the future?”, Phillips,
Diesfeld and Mann (2019) “Instances of online
suicide, the law and potential solutions”, Lee and
Kwon (2018) “Twitter as a place where people
meet to make suicide pacts”, we can conclude
that the virtual space can promote suicidal
thoughts and intentions among adolescents with
its content or even encourage them to commit
suicide through the “support” or cheering on by
online “friends”. It’s also clear that excessive and
unsupervised use of the Internet multiplies the
chances of the child encountering harmful
content or contacts.
Returning to our own survey, over half of the
respondents exceed safe limits of screen time by
a considerable margin. In light of the above,
when children say they are “constantly online”,
their parents should consider not only the
negative psychological impact on the child and
the risk of Internet addiction, which experts
define as an obsessive desire to go on the Internet
while offline as well as inability to go offline
(Shugailo, 2015, p.19), but also all the threats
that their children may encounter in the digital
space.
To find out whether schoolchildren are aware of
the danger that being on the Internet exposes
them to, we asked them, “Do you think it is
possible to get into a dangerous situation, or feel
unsafe, on the Internet?” The absolute majority
of respondents (91,2%) answered that it is indeed
possible to get into a dangerous situation online.
Incidentally, during the survey among Spanish
children aged 6-12 that was mentioned earlier,
54,5% also mentioned that they don’t feel safe
online (Núñez-Gómez et al., 2021).
To assess their level of awareness in regards to
online threats, we had our respondents name the
most common problems that using the Internet
has caused them personally. The most frequent
answer, mentioned by half of the respondents,
was visual impairment (50,5%), second most
frequent – getting distracted from studies
(44,8%). The third most frequent answer (36,5%)
was danger of falling victim to illegal acts, from
stalking and sexual harassment to fraud and
involvement in extreme games. Girls chose this
answer more often (41,0% as opposed to 29,7%
among boys). 35,1% of respondents also
mentioned the risk of coming across harmful
content (depiction of violence, propaganda of
self-harm and suicide, etc.), with the percentage
of girls and boys who chose this answer being
about the same: 36,5% and 33,0%, respectively.
In addition, almost every third respondent
mentioned Internet addiction (32,5%). The
percentage of girls and boys who chose this
answer did not differ significantly: 34,8% and
29,1%, respectively. The number of those who
answered that they experienced no problems
because they know how to use the Internet safely
was very small – 4,9%.
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A significant number of the respondents have had
personal negative experiences while using the
Internet. Thus, 53% of them have encountered
fake news about the war in Ukraine.
Also, children often come across photos and
videos depicting violence and cruelty, including
murder, fights, bullying, etc. This was indicated
by 40,3% of respondents. This particular threat
deserves special attention. After viewing such
content, the user may notice changes in one’s
mental or even physical state, such as increased
anxiety, trembling of the limbs, suffocation,
rapid heartbeat, confused thoughts, fear, anger,
etc. Because of the war, violent content is
everywhere these days, which has a traumatic
effect on all Internet users, and especially
children. Seeing such content often makes the
viewer experience fear, giving the impression
that violence and rash behavior are the norm.
Viewing this content over long periods of time
can cause changes in a child: in terms of behavior
– manifested in feelings of alienation, loneliness,
restlessness, apathy, lack of interest toward
things that used to be important, new fears and
concerns; mood – i.e. sadness and annoyance
with the entire world; and sleeping habits – i.e.
insomnia, often accompanied by early
awakening or, on the contrary, late rising, as well
as nightmares (Filonenko, Kasilova, & Dyakova,
2022, p.12). Therefore, adults should avoid
watching news and videos about the situation on
the front lines in the presence of children
(especially younger ones) and discussing this
subject in too much detail while children are
around. Furthermore, they should refrain from
posting such content on their social media if there
are children on their friends list that would be
able to see it. It’s also necessary to explain to
children that they should not view or disseminate
such content in chats, e.g. in class chats, on their
social media pages, etc. (Filonenko, Kasilova and
Dyakova, 2022, p.12).
A considerable number of respondents – 37,9%
– have been the target of insults, humiliation,
harassment, threats, intimidation, and obscene
language while communicating on social media;
36,3% have encountered malicious software
(viruses); 30,6% – images of sexual nature. It
should be noted that when answering another
question, 42.7% of respondents indicated that
they periodically (“often” – 7,7%, or
“occasionally” – 35%) visit adult sites. So,
despite the fact that the survey was anonymous,
the children sometimes weren’t completely
honest, perhaps because the question concerned
a potentially embarrassing subject.
According to 18,1% and 17,2% of respondents,
respectively, they have encountered fraudulent
actions or theft of funds online, as well as had
their social media accounts or e-mail hacked,
with more boys than girls having experienced
this by a large margin: 26,1% of boys and 12,8%
of girls have experienced fraud or theft while
22,3% of boys and 13,9% of girls have had their
social media accounts or email hacked. About
every seventh student has come across proposals
to buy them alcohol or drugs (14,7%). 14,6% of
respondents have been subjected to sexual
harassment on the Internet, with an almost equal
number of girls and boys (14,8% and 14,3%,
respectively). 12,2% admit that they have had
their personal information, photos, or videos
posted on the Internet without their consent.
Every 9th student (10,9%) has faced extortion,
boys twice more often than girls – 15,7% and
7,8%, respectively. Almost every 10th student
(9,5%) has had offers to participate in extreme
games like Blue Whale. 5,8% have received
requests to take pictures of military vehicles,
checkpoints, and other military targets.
According to the State Special Communications
Service of Ukraine, the enemy gets 80% of its
intelligence from public content on the Internet.
It is for this purpose that the Russian military is
so eager to try and involve Ukrainian children in
these dangerous activities.
It should be noted that 22,4% of respondents say
they have not encountered any trouble in the
digital space whatsoever. One possible
explanation for this is that parents are usually
more diligent in monitoring children when they
are younger: among the aforementioned
percentage, the majority are 11- and 12-year-
olds.
Since boys usually run into the above problems
more often than girls despite better digital
competences, the work on preventing incidents
and crimes involving children should be done
taking into account not just the children’s skills
but also their gender.
To find out how best to address these issues, we
asked the children, “Do you tell your parents
about the problems you experience on the
Internet?” 37,3% answered that they do so
regularly, 34,8% – that they report only certain
problems, while 27,9% never notify their parents
about this.
It should be noted that children tend to hide
certain problems more often than others, such as
sexual harassment (19,4%); offers to buy alcohol
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or drugs (17,4%); invitations to participate in
extreme games (10,9%), etc. This is probably due
to fear that their parents would forbid them to use
the Internet, or perhaps they are embarrassed to
discuss such topics with their parents. Another
possibility is that children simply doubt that their
parents would be able to help with these
problems, since the level of digital competences
among adults is generally lower than that of
children today.
This is confirmed by answers to the question
“Have your parents ever asked you for help with
a computer or phone?” The vast majority –
84,7% – said yes, with an almost equal
percentage of boys and girls.
This indicates a breakdown in the established
tradition of older generations passing on their
experience to younger ones. After all, it’s the
family that lays the foundation of a child’s social
behavior, and the digital space should be no
exception. However, parents today often have
nothing to offer their children in terms of such
knowledge and skills, thus discouraging them
from asking for help in the first place.
Incidentally, according to the first all-Ukrainian
digital literacy survey conducted in December
2019, 53% of the population (based on the digital
skills assessment methodology used by the
European Commission) is below basic level: of
those, 37,9% of Ukrainians aged 18-70 are at
basic level while 15,1% have no relevant skills at
all (Ionan, 2020, February 10). That is why, when
they encounter difficulties, have questions, or
require advice, they often turn to the virtual
world and online “friends” rather than their
parents.
Considering that children actively communicate
in the digital space, with social media playing a
dominant role in this, we wanted to know
whether they follow basic safety precautions.
Having previously found out that the vast
majority of children (88,9%) know how to
change privacy settings for their social media
accounts, we asked them, “Are your accounts on
social media private?” Despite the
aforementioned skills, most of the respondents
answered negatively, namely 53,2% (56,3% of
girls and 48,4% of boys). A bit over a third
answered yes, while 5,1% said they don’t know
whether their accounts are private. 7,1% said
they have no accounts on social media. These are
mostly younger adolescents aged 11-12.
It should be noted that most social networks only
allow registering an account if the user is over 13
(e.g. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook,
and Twitter). Thus, considering that the
percentage of 11- and 12-year-olds among our
respondents is 17,1% and 13,9%, respectively,
we can say with a high degree of probability that
about 24% of the children (every fourth) lied
about their age when registering accounts on
social media. Similar results were obtained
during a 2019 survey in the UK, according to
which 18% of children aged 8-11 already have
accounts on popular social networks (Kobzar,
2019). Sometimes children do this without their
parents knowing, although a third of the parents,
as it turns out, doesn’t even know about age
restrictions for registration in the first place
(Kobzar, 2019).
Also, children often have multiple accounts for
accessing social networks. In 2022, an Ofcom
study showed that 60% of children aged 8-11
have at least one account, which they registered
simply by indicating a false date of birth
(Miroshnikova, 2023).
Violations of age restriction rules on social media
also come up in the study by Núñez-Gómez et al.
(2021) “Critical Analysis of the Risks in the Use
of the Internet and Social Networks in Childhood
and Adolescence”. According to the researchers,
children aged 9-16 use social media daily (or
very frequently), with younger adolescents
indicating a false date of birth to register an
account. Older adolescents start creating several
accounts on social media: the primary one, which
their parents know about, and one or more other
accounts that they use to search for information
anonymously, freely express their opinions,
follow the accounts of people they are interested
in, etc.
With unhindered access to social media, a child
can easily invite the attention of criminals. In
light of this, we asked the children, “Are there
people on your friends list on social media whom
you have never met in real life?” As it turns out,
the majority of respondents – 56% – are willing
to add people they have never actually met. This
is more prevalent among boys (61,0% against
52,8%).
So, despite the fact that most of the respondents
have the necessary skills to adjust privacy
settings on social media, they not only ignore this
option but also carelessly add strangers to their
friends list.
Some children add friends to get as many “likes”
as they can for their posts or other content (e.g.
photos or videos). This way they gain respect,
recognition, and popularity among their peers. In
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addition, according to a 2016 study by
researchers at the University of California,
getting a “like” or looking at a large number of
“likes” on their photos activates the same part of
the brain in adolescents as when eating chocolate
or winning money (Sherman, Payton, &
Dapretto, 2016). Stimulation of the brain’s so-
called “reward center” makes adolescents spend
more and more time on social media, posting
photos, videos, etc.
The danger lies in the fact that by adding
strangers, children give them access to personal
details and may end up having regular
conversations with them, potentially of a sexual
nature. This can even lead to meetings offline.
The war has only exacerbated this issue by
severing children’s social connections, which
they now seek to replace.
The next question in the questionnaire was meant
to help us understand how cautious adolescents
are when meeting people on the Internet. We
asked, “What personal information are you
willing to share with a new online friend?”
67,5% of respondents are willing to talk about
their interests and hobbies; 48,2% – to give their
first and/or last name; 20,1% – to send their
photos, with girls somewhat outnumbering boys
here (23% against 15,7%); 10,1% – to give their
phone number; a bit over 5% – to say what school
they go to. 26,5% of respondents don’t share
personal details, while 14,5% say that they give
false information.
Other answers, which were provided by 2,8% of
respondents, are as follows: “I share information
only with my parents’ permission”; “I will report
non-confidential information” etc.
Since criminals often use online communication
as groundwork before the actual crime, we had to
find out whether children limit themselves to
online when socializing with their Internet
friends. In response to the question “Have you
ever had offline meetings with your online
friends?” almost 32,2% answered yes, with the
percentage of boys (34,1%) and girls (31,0%)
here almost the same. The frequency of face-to-
face meetings with Internet “friends” rises
significantly as the child gets older: among 11-
year-olds, every seventh child had such
meetings, as opposed to every second in the older
age group. It’s unlikely that they fully realize the
danger of such meetings.
It is unlikely that these students are aware of the
dangers they may be exposed to when meeting
virtual acquaintances. Parents and teachers
should constantly remind children to be careful
about meeting people in the digital environment
and following up with them, as well as about
sharing personal information (photos, contacts,
etc.) online. Children often become victims of
sexting because they see it as a harmless and
simple way to get complimented for their
appearance through positive comments and likes
rather than something dangerous (Ionan, 2020,
February 4).
Furthermore, their age itself, which is
characterized by the desire to experience new and
unknown, even dangerous, things, pushes them
toward risky behavior, including in the virtual
space.
This is demonstrated by answers to our question
regarding extreme games (challenges). First and
foremost, it should be noted that the
overwhelming majority (79,2%) of respondents
is aware of the existence of so-called “death
groups” on social media, such as Blue Whale,
Red Owl, “Wake me up at 4:20,” “Run or die,”
Momo, etc., which encourage adolescents to
perform potentially lethal tasks and inflict bodily
harm on themselves or even commit suicide.
Also, children’s awareness of such games
increases with age (63,3% among 11-year-olds
and 86,4% among 17-year-olds).
It should be noted that 4,8% of respondents
answered that they might agree to participate in
such games, if only out of curiosity, while 11,2%
were undecided. We believe that the latter could
be persuaded to participate through professional
psychological manipulation. This puts 16% of
respondents at risk, i.e. one in six children.
We fully agree with Astorri and his co-authors
(2023), who, in their study “Online extreme
challenges putting children at risk: what we
know to date”, concluded that in most cases,
children and adolescents go into it with no
intention to die. Unaware of the danger to their
health, they do it for the thrill, because they want
to try something new and unfamiliar. After all,
most children are looking for new sensations and
impressions in the virtual world, as well as for
something they were unable to get in the real
world from the people closest to them – support
(according to a member of one of the “death
groups”) (Kovalevska, & Gribanova, 2022). As
noted above, the desire to take risks during
adolescence occurs in part due to elevated neural
sensitivity to the so-called “reward” (stimulation
of the part of the brain responsible for the
sensation of satisfaction at achieving certain
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goals) combined with the undeveloped capacity
for cognitive control (Sherman et al., 2016).
In addition to the aforementioned death groups,
various dangerous challenges spring up on the
Internet every day. For instance, recently there
was a popular challenge on Instagram that
involved posting a photo of one’s city to the
user’s Instagram Stories with a geotag. While
harmless at first glance, such actions could result
in tragedy during a war. There also exist
challenges that pose a more obvious risk to one’s
health and even health. One example of this was
the pill poisoning incident involving children
who took part in a challenge to “swallow 40 pills
and see what happens” after watching a video on
TikTok.
In light of this, we decided to ask the children,
“Do you participate, or have you ever
participated, in online challenges?” The results
were as follows. 68,5% don’t participate in
challenges; 31,5% (every third respondent) do it
with varying frequency: 28,1% – occasionally,
3,4% – frequently.
We asked the children that have experience with
challenges: “What kind of Internet challenges do
you participate in most often?” 85,2% of
respondents – an encouraging figure – mainly
participate in safe challenges; 11,3% – in both
kinds (safe and dangerous alike), as long as they
seem interesting; and 3,4% – mainly in
dangerous ones (those which can be dangerous to
one’s health or life). Looking at the answers
through the lens of gender, boys are twice as
likely to opt for dangerous challenges, or else
they only take into account how interesting the
challenge is and ignore safety considerations
entirely.
In regards to whether their parents know what
they do on the Internet, 54% answered in the
negative or that their parents know about it only
partially. Such a large percentage of parents that
are ignorant regarding this issue presents a
serious danger to their children.
Conclusion
The survey’s results demonstrate that the Internet
has captured the hearts and minds of
schoolchildren due to its accessibility, emotional
appeal, and rich opportunities for learning,
communication, and entertainment, which
resonates with the desire of adolescents to
experience adulthood and independence.
Considering the peculiarities of adolescence and
the excessive activity of children on the Internet,
the list of online threats for minors is much larger
than for adult users.
Excessive and unsupervised use of the Internet
may damage the child’s physical and mental
health and lead to such issues as Internet
addiction; supplanted traditional forms of
socializing; negative social influences that push
adolescents toward illegal, antisocial, or
destructive behavior; and the risk of falling
victim to illegal acts like cyber violence, fraud,
pornography, sexual harassment, incitement to
suicide etc.
As the survey shows, most adolescents are aware
of the threats they can come across while
navigating the digital space, but they don’t fully
realize the extent of these threats.
Meanwhile, the older generations are
increasingly lagging behind the developments in
the digital world. Perhaps this why children
today are often reluctant to ask adults for help
with their problems.
Modern life is characterized by a constantly
shifting balance between the real and virtual
components, and the younger the generation, the
more they see the virtual component as the
dominant one. Therefore, family and school
should remain the focal points where traditional
forms of socialization prevail, while the digital
environment is only a part of real life and serves
as a tool that expands human capabilities.
It’s especially important to help children realize
that this tool comes with a set of mandatory
safety rules, much like traffic rules. Given the
nature of adolescence and our survey’s results,
we must point out that schoolchildren behave
rather carelessly in the digital space, especially in
regards to online acquaintances and
communication. This issue has become
particularly serious because of the war.
To ensure the safety of children in the digital
space today, parents need to:
speak with their children as often as possible
(without any devices), talk with them about their
state during stressful situations, support them and
never leave them to deal with “dark” thoughts on
their own;
discuss universal rules of online safety with them
(e.g. don’t share personal details with online
friends, don’t share your posts or the posts of
your relatives, don’t exchange indecent photos
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/ September 2023
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and videos; don’t agree to offline meetings with
strangers or do this only in public places and in
the presence of parents or other adults that you
are sufficiently close with, etc.);
adjust, together with the children, privacy
settings on their social media accounts and make
them private. It’s important to explain to the child
that a geotag on a post or picture, a funny video
on a social network, or a simple message can
pose real danger, especially during a war;
foster critical thinking in the children; this will
help them better navigate the digital space and
avoid negative situations in the future.
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