Social Networks in the News: Toddlers as Young as 3 to Learn About Internet Dangers

DailyMail Article: Toddlers as young as 3 should be taught the dark side of the internet

When on the Daily Mail today I found this story about how ministers now believe that internet education can never start too young and the government have set about creating new campaigns to educate our youngest generations. The growth in technology has led to really young children being at risk to the online world. I am always using the train and bus as a way to get around and the amount of times I have seen a parent give their child their smart phone or tablet to play on is huge. These new exciting forms of technology offer vast forms of entertainment and occupation but they also put more and more children at risk of the dangers the internet has to offer.

'With toddlers frequently using web-linked devices like iPads, the government says educating them about the risks cannot start too soon. Very young children will be told how to manage their 'on-line identity' and why they should not put 'inappropriate' information on the internet.'

The article points out that officially children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use Facebook. However it does not take a rocket  scientist to realise that all you have to do is change your year of birth when signing up to 13+ to be allowed.

I did consider using this aspect within my animation before but decided I would then be trying to cover too much ground and would risk complicating my project. I thought about using a child who had just begun at secondary school so would have been aged 11 who joined Facebook in order to fit in but then became the target of cyber-bullies. In the end I decided my project would be stronger if I just focused on cyber-bullyng rather than covering under-age use too.