A new first-of-it-kind study by Unicef South Africa explores how the local youth deal with dangers online, as society moves further into an easily-accessible, ever-connected environment of communication.<\/p>\n
The report was compiled after holding close to 180 in-depth focus groups at 93 schools across South Africa, covering topics including online violence, abuse, sexting, online risks and real-world consequences and dangers.<\/p>\n
The study showed that one in five secondary-school learners have experienced some form of cyber-bullying or other violence online.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, however, the report found “substantial” evidence that the majority of young people are aware of the risks they face online, which has allowed them to develop protective measures of their own.<\/p>\n
“When asked what they thought the risks and dangers that lurked online were, children reported a range of risks that could impact on their psycho-social wellbeing, their physical wellbeing, and their school performance,” the report said.<\/p>\n
“These appeared to be informed by personal experiences, by experiences of their friends and peers, and undoubtedly by stories and events they had read about in the media.”<\/p>\n
Sexting, or the act of sending and receiving nude or pornographic images via chat, was found to have a strong correlation to cyber bullying.<\/p>\n
“The relationship between sexting and cyberbullying becomes most apparent when the consequences of failing to comply with requests for photos are explored.”<\/p>\n
“Failing to concede to such requests could result in other forms of bullying,” the report said.<\/p>\n
Through the focus groups, the researchers found that, intitially, such content was usually shared with the consent of the subjects.<\/p>\n
However, these could then be used maliciously, “to humiliate or \u2018get even\u2019 following a relationship breakdown”.<\/p>\n
Girls reported feeling coerced or misled into sending sexually explicit images to male friends, though in a gradual manner.<\/p>\n
Through the focus groups, the researchers found that learners were aware of the harm this can inflict on the victim.<\/p>\n
“The fact that the intention is to hurt the victim shows an awareness of the consequences,” Unicef said.<\/p>\n
However, the researchers noted that the data suggested that young people were participating in the general activity of sexting as a result of “normal adolescent sexual exploration”.<\/p>\n
“Sharing pictures of this nature seems to be relatively common among young people as they use their mobile phones to experiment with their sexuality,” the report said.<\/p>\n
Beware what your kids say online<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Kids up to no good online? There\u2019s an app for that.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n What are your kids doing online?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Apple to refund $32.5 million in purchases made by kids<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n