Latest news with #AlexCooney
The Journal
16-06-2025
- General
- The Journal
Eight-year-old schoolchildren in disadvantaged areas more than twice as likely to have a smartphone
CHILDREN ATTENDING DEIS schools are more likely to be exposed to harm online than their peers in non-Deis schools. According to newly-published research from online safety charity CyberSafeKids, children from disadvantaged areas are more likely to own a smartphone at a younger age and have less rules about online activity. The Government-funded Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) programme provides resources to schools in disadvantaged areas around the country. The research was conducted between September 2023 and February 2024, and involved 816 children aged 8-12 in 13 Deis schools, and 3,826 students in 45 non-Deis schools. It found that 53% of eight-year-olds attending Deis schools own a smartphone. For children the same age in non-Deis schools, only 22% had a smartphone. Some 46% of children in Deis schools could go online whenever they wanted compared with 31% in non-Deis schools. When looking at social media use, some 93% of eight-year-olds in Deis schools have already created a social media account, with 34% having friends and followers that they do not know. For children in non-Deis schools, these figures were 69% and 19%, respectively. Almost a third (29%) of children aged eight to 12 in Deis schools have posted videos of themselves online, in contrast to 16% of their peers who don't attend a Deis school. Advertisement Speaking on Newstalk's Pat Kenny Show this morning, CyberSafeKids CEO Alex Cooney said they were not surprised by the findings. 'We've been monitoring this over the last ten years, and we've seen that, generally speaking, there are higher levels of access in more disadvantaged communities if you compare to the general population,' Cooney said. She said that children are growing up in a digital age where society has 'established norms that children will have quite high levels of access from a young age'. 'They may have more access in those communities just because there's lower levels of parental awareness around risks, and I think we need to do a lot more to upskill all parents and make sure that there is awareness about risks that children can be exposed to in these online environments.' She also called for greater accountability from social media and tech companies 'that provide these online environments that children are going into'. 'It's not about banning children from the online world because there's lots of good things that they can be doing online, but it is about putting age appropriate access in place, putting accountability, where it needs to be upskilling parents and educating children.' Speaking to The Journal earlier this year , the Minister for Children Norma Foley said the State would not have a role in implementing any sort of smartphone ban, but she urged parents to consider it for their own homes. Last week, the Government confirmed that a tender for schools to have access to lockable phone pouches has been replaced with plans for schools to provide whatever 'phone storage solution works best for them'. The €9 million spend was among the most contentious measures announced in Budget 2025 last October . Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Dáil that this was a 'pragmatic and sensible way to proceed' and that schools would still be able to seek funding for lockable pouches or an alternative solution later this year. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Roblox is popular with kids, but it's a risky business
Roblox has become one of the most popular online gaming platforms for children globally, with over 85 million daily active users worldwide and an estimated 40% under the age of 13. In Ireland, it is currently the most popular online environment for children aged 8-12. Our annual Trends & Usage Report, Left To Their Own Devices, which surveyed almost 6,000 primary school children in the academic year 2023/4, found that 40% play Roblox. We get the attraction. To call it a game is, in many ways, a misnomer since it's a whole universe made up of millions of games created by other users. It arguably has something for everyone and offers great creative potential by enabling users to build their own worlds. But it's not without risk; research has raised serious concerns about the safety of children on Roblox, highlighting risks and exposing significant gaps in regulation. Given its rising popularity, we've kept a close eye on Roblox over the last few years in particular and in this piece, I'll summarise what we've learned. From a parent's perspective, it must seem like a good option since unlike many of the other places children go online like Snapchat and TikTok, this one is specifically marketed to and for children aged five and over. Alex Cooney. CEO of CyberSafeIreland: 'Even with safeguards in place it is not possible to create a risk-free experience for a child and we shouldn't be fooled by the child-friendly appearance of Roblox.' At first glance the blocky nature of the avatars and style of many games can give parents a false impression that children are safe to spend time in this environment without supervision, but recent research by Revealing Reality called this a "troubling disconnect between child-friendly appearance and reality". Like many online platforms, it struggles to keep in step with ever growing numbers of users and increasing ways around safeguards. Disappointingly and like pretty much all of the other gaming platforms, it's also not as regulated as some of the big social media platforms. It doesn't come under our national legislation, the Online Safety & Media Regulation Act, because its European HQ is not based here and it doesn't meet the size threshold of the "very large online platforms and search engines'" as defined by the Digital Services Act at the European level, which means there are less stringent regulatory requirements and that some of the risks that I'll highlight below are simply falling below the radar. They're not unique to Roblox but given its growing popularity, it's important to address them. Inappropriate content One such risk is exposure to inappropriate content. Our research shows that Roblox is one of the most likely places for an 8-12 year old to encounter such content. Often it falls into the horror/scary category, but sometimes it relates to nudity and sexual content - for example, the design of avatars as well as the interactions and scenarios laid out can be sexual in nature. Roblox has made some attempts to address condo games and to age-gate content, but despite this children often report having upsetting experiences. It's worth noting that certain games provide more opportunities for interactions that may confuse or upset a child, like role play games, such as the hugely popular Brookhaven RP. The game design in this case is not the issue but rather the actors playing alongside the child and how they attempt to engage with the child or to perform certain inappropriate activities. Bad actors A major part of the appeal with Roblox is engaging with others online and our research indicates that Roblox is likely to be the first platform children use to socialise online. This brings with it a steep learning curve and can lead to cyberbullying between peers as well as the risk of engaging with bad actors online (people who wish to exploit children either sexually or financially). By default, the public Experience chat is enabled for all accounts and bad actors can sometimes navigate around the moderation of certain keywords/phrases and attempt to move communication to a more private setting. There is also the option to chat privately outside of the Experience or to enable group chats using the Party feature. Research released in 2024 by Hindenburg Research described Roblox as "A Paedophile Hellscape for Kids", alluding to the fact that like many places online in which children gather, it's become attractive to bad actors. Scams Scams can also be an issue, both on and off the platform. Roblox has its own microeconomy, with the virtual currency Robux and the ability to trade inventory. Trading can prove problematic for young children who frequently report feeling cheated. The currency has also been associated with scams off platform, for example ads pop up for free Robux on other apps enticing children to engage with bad actors, and has been used to facilitate underage gambling. What can parents do? So what can parents do to manage these risks? Roblox offers a variety of parental controls and if your child is showing an interest in playing the game, or is already on it, it's really worth engaging with what's on offer. They go further than some of their counterparts to age-gate the online experience. Whilst a user must be at least five years of age, once the date of birth is entered, default settings are then enabled to age-gate the experiences a user can have on the platform - available to all ages, 9+, 13+ and 17+. Controls include setting the content maturity of games, time limits and the level of social interaction allowed, including the ability to turn off the Experience chat (public chat). Crucially, some of these settings can't be modified by the child users (unlike on some of the social media platforms) without being unlocked by a parent or verifying an appropriate age using a government-issued ID and selfie. Even with safeguards in place it is not possible to create a risk-free experience for a child and we shouldn't be fooled by the child-friendly appearance of Roblox. At the end of the day, the online world is fraught with risks for children, which is why it is essential that parents really consider holding off giving access to certain online environments, including Roblox, until children are developmentally ready. Parents need to keep an eye on what their children are seeing and doing online (i.e. keep them where you can see them rather than left to their own devices behind a bedroom door) and regularly check in and have conversations about being online in a safe and responsible way. But we also need fundamental changes in the online world to ensure the companies behind these services that are used by children are held to a far higher standard than currently exists. We need an online world for children that is safe by design and by default. Anything less is simply not good enough. Alex Cooney is co-founder and CEO of Read More Online game platform Roblox being used by illegal casinos to lure children into gambling
