The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund launched a report on Saturday that found children in South-East Asia adopt the same strategies seen around the world to protect themselves online.
However, there were also some disturbing discoveries, says the report titled"Our Lives Online: Use of Social Media by Children and Adolescents in East Asia – opportunities, risks and harms".Two out of five children in the focus groups reported having bad experiences they would not want to tell anyone.
The study focused on the views and experiences of 301 girls and boys, aged between 11 and18, from Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. There were 127 Malaysian participants.Among the key questions asked were"how are children using social media apps?","what risks and benefits do they perceive?","how do children seek help when they encounter risks?" and"what measures do they take to protect themselves?".
Greater emphasis must also be placed on evidence-based approaches within schools, and in homes, that equip children with these skills."Technology companies should make profiles private by default; the default options for new contacts is most commonly 'everyone'; this could be changed to 'friends of friends'; and finally, social media apps can relatively easily be designed to block photos being sent by people outside contact lists," said the report.