Children in Singapore among youngest in the world to get internet-connected device: Google

Photo: Pexels
Photo: Pexels

A new survey conducted by Google revealed that the average age that kids in Singapore get their first internet-connected device is eight years old — among the youngest in the world.

The global average for kids to go online? Ten years old, two whole years older than kids in the city-state get to get jacked into the internet.

Being exposed to the wild cosmos that is the world wide web at such a young age, the survey also found that both parents and teachers are increasingly concerned about child safety online, and recognize the need for kids to be educated with digital literacy.

While both parents and educators fear kids getting exposed to inappropriate content, the former shares bigger concerns about privacy, security and oversharing of information, while the latter expressed more unease about cyberbullying on top of privacy and security matters.

Both parties do agree that more can be done at home and in schools when it comes to educating children about their safety online. Ninety-six percent of teachers interviewed even felt that they were not equipped enough to teach digital literacy to their students.

To be fair, it’s pretty hard to wrangle the restriction of content on the internet, no matter how many restrictions are implemented on devices. Even on sites considered as safe zones for children such as Google-owned YouTube Kids, disturbing content has made its way onto seemingly innocent cartoons. Just last month, comments sections on videos have been found to contain openly-shared child pornography.

This, despite YouTube’s strict policies and detection technology that help remove such content (the platform assures that its systems are continually improving).

On Google’s end, the tech giant affirms that numerous workshops for parents and educators have been organized to tackle the concerns. According to Google, it has worked with the Ministry of Education and the Media Literacy Council to help promote internet safety among Singaporeans of all ages. Now, there’s even a dedicated Google Safety Center as a resource (in Chinese, Malay, and Tamil languages) for teachers and parents to learn how to keep their families safe online.



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