CyberSafeIreland releases its 4th Annual Report

Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor is launching CyberSafeIreland’s 4th annual report today, Tuesday 10th September 2019, with data showing that 12% of 8-year olds spend 61 full days online a year.

Other key figures being released are:

• Government urged to introduce long-term strategy on children’s online safety
• 92% of 8 – 13 year olds own their own smart device
• 43% of children are talking to people online that they don’t know in real life
• 52% teachers don’t feel equipped to teach online safety messages in the classroom.
• Survey by CyberSafeIreland of almost 4,000 children aged between eight and thirteen

The report has highlighted that 43% are speaking to strangers online, with a third of them speaking to strangers every day or at least once a week.  We also found that a high proportion of boys, including 36% of 8-year olds boys and 43% of 10 year old boys, are playing over-18s games and being exposed to violent and sexual content that is not appropriate for their age.

CyberSafeIreland surveyed 3,867 children aged between 8 and 13 in schools over the last academic year and found that 92% owned their own smart device.^[1]  This means that the vast majority of children own a device that connects to the Internet and that many are active online.

Download the full report here