‘Putting technology in the hands of a child is like putting a gun’

74% of the examined adolescents in Microsoft’s 2023 Online Security Report claim to have experienced some risk online, 60% of adolescents have talked to someone about it; 71% did it with their parents; 32% with friends; and 14% with another adult other than parents.

Handing over a tech tool, smartphone or social network is like handing over a weapon to a child or adolescent, warned Marines Duarte, grooming expert, during the launch “Safe Internet for Youth” campaign of the Internet Society Panama branch.

The flexibility offered by youth access apps leaves parent-child communication and monitoring as the only defensive tool, an expert warns.

Parents need to talk openly about the risks of technology just as they talk about the dangers of alcohol, sex and drugs, Durate said.

Among the most common risks are disinformation – fake news – and disinformation, as well as those directed at people, such as online violence, hate speech and threats of violence, Microsoft’s 2023 online security report pointed out.

YoThe Panama chapter of the Internet Society also addressed some of the risks young people face

One of the most common risks is the so-called ‘gromming’ which generally occurs from adults to young people. “Gromming” is cybersexual harassment that begins with the development of trust, followed by manipulation and ends with a physical encounter, live sexual abuse, Duarte explains.

50% of the victims of ‘gromming’ are between 12 and 15 years old, they are vulnerable people, but this does not mean that there are vulnerable adults who end up being victims of ‘gromming’, the expert explains.

‘Gromming’ is the result of a well-armed plan based on trust, isolating the victim from a network of trust where the perpetrator assesses all the risks that may occur, makes sexual demands and applies the mechanism of blackmail towards his victim. There are different stages that go from months to years of planning, warns Duarte.

Given this, parents or guardians have an obligation to provide love and trust to prevent adolescents from looking for this lack in other people or an adult, says Durarte. “You have to talk to young people about the dangers that exist in people and the malice behind the screen,” insisted.

Duarte recognizes that artificial intelligence already offers little help to parents in monitoring and monitoring their children’s online behavior, the expert said during the launch of the “Safe Internet for Youth” campaign of the Internet Society of Panama.

prohibitions
Access to technology in different scenarios was also discussed The Panama branch of the Internet Society, one of them, in schools.

It’s not about banning student phones from school environments, it’s about replacing them with recesses with multiple activities, explained Soledad Garcés, an expert on digital coexistence and educational technologies in Chile.

It is also difficult for adults to reduce their time in front of the device, says the expert. The most important thing is that the use of social networks and platforms follows the goal, said Garcés.

In order to really control the digital world and the effects it has on people, we need to establish other family routines, exercises, among other activities, he indicated.

Technology is advancing, but it cannot control people’s behavior, added Cristina Fortuniy, an economist and expert on sexting.

Sexting, or consensual sending of intimate material between two people, is another situation that adolescents are exposed to on the Internet.

Fortuniy reminded that in the case of minors, all sexual content with a commercial relationship is considered child pornography.

“The best way to preserve privacy is to make your life private, by taking it into the digital world you expose yourself to every risk,” the expert said.

Adolescent brains are programmed to pay more attention to what friends think, rather than what adults think, experts agree. In this sense, Marla González, founder of Marandino in Mexico, a company dedicated to creating well-being through gaming, also recalled the risks that communities bear in the digital environment.

Information2023 Microsoft Online Security Forum pointed out that lMost parents say they take steps to keep their children safer online, and their tactics include checking their children’s profiles and posts, receiving activity reports and regularly talking to them about their online activities.

This year’s study shows that parents generally see safety features as effective tools to help their children stay safe online, with 81% saying they use at least one. Parents of children ages 6 to 12 are more likely to use platform-based security tools than parents of teenagers (4.4% vs. 3.5%).