A survey released yesterday found that 34 percent of children aged 11 and 12 were exposed to pornography and violent imagery while using computers, communication devices or consumer electronic products.
The survey results, jointly unveiled by Google Taiwan and the Child Welfare League Foundation, also found that 12.2 percent of respondents seek content inappropriate for their age group while using such devices.
Boys were more likely to report seeking inappropriate content than girls, at a ratio of 1.85 to 1.
The foundation said the survey was conducted between Dec. 22 last year and Jan. 20 among fifth and sixth-grade students at elementary schools. A total of 1,440 valid questionnaires were collected, with 50.1 percent of respondents being boys.
The results have a sampling margin of error of 3 percent.
The survey found that 57.4 percent of respondents have their own computers, including tablets, laptops or desktop computers, and 47.9 percent have smartphones.
Among children owning computers, smartphones or other electronic devices, 42.4 percent used the devices before going to sleep, 39.6 percent on public transport and 32.9 percent during gatherings of family members or friends.
The top three types of Web sites visited were video-sharing sites, online game sites and social networks, the survey found.
The survey generated other significant findings as well. Among the 80 percent of the students who play online games on smartphones or tablets, 30 percent said they played games that are age-inappropriate.
In terms of information safety, the survey found that 33.7 percent of respondents use their birthdays or easy-to-remember numbers such as 1111; 0000 or 1234 as passwords. In this category, girls are 15 percent more likely to do so than boys, the survey found.
“We cannot bar children from going online, just like we cannot ban adults from driving, even though both going online and driving have risks,” Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said. “So we have to educate our children how to access the Internet safely, like the regulations people need to follow when they drive.”
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