STOCKHOLM There is a great need for receiving support over the internet among children and youth. Some problems are difficult to talk about face to face, and in those cases children prefer to ask an adult via chat or email. This was made evident by many of the participants at Childhood’s 10-year anniversary seminar on children and the internet, which was held in Stockholm September 17th.

”If it was at small problem I would talk to an adult face to face. But if it was serious I’d rather contact an adult on the internet”, said 13-year old Philip, who participated at the seminar.

He is not alone. The NGO:s Friends, BRIS, Nätvandrarna, Tjejzonen, together with Ph.D. Cecilia Löfberg from Stockholm University, were some of the participants at Childhood’s seminar who emphasized how important it is to have adult presence on the internet. When children have problems and concerns this is where they seek help, they said. Especially when it comes to serious problems, such as physical or psychological abuse. The possibility to ask anonymous questions over the internet, a place where children feel comfortable, is very important.

”On the internet children dare to ask about things they don´t feel comfortable talking about when they meet adults in real life. It is an arena where you get the truth, with no censorship”, said Maria Soares Lindberg from the project Nätvandrarna, who work actively to be available as adults in the digital children’s culture.

The internet is here to stay
Naturally, there are risks with the internet, as with other places where children hang out. But prohibiting them to be online is not the answer, Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden stated in her welcoming speech. Instead, adults need to take responsibility for making the internet a safe place.

”Also, we must learn to use the internet to assist those children who are at risk. In many ways the internet provides a fantastic tool which enables us to work preventatively. If we can identify children who have a tendency to risky behaviour then we have a much greater chance of helping them before they are harmed, whether it is in the virtual world or in the real world”, the Queen said.

One example of how this can be done is Tjejzonen (The girl zone) in Sweden, a project supported by Childhood. Tjejzonen started three years ago, and has 150 volunteers who support girls at risk in different ways, for example through a chat. On the Tjejzonen chat, girls ask questions about everything from eating disorders, love, relationships and abuse. The volunteers listen and support the girls, and helps girls with serious problems to get help.

”When we started a telephone helpline three years ago, nobody called. One of our volunteers advised us to start a chat and so we did”, said project manager Lotta Zetterqvist.

On the internet, the contact between children and adults is happening on equal terms. This is an important reason to why children prefer support over the internet, many participants stated.

“In real life adults sets the conditions for a discussion. On the internet children have more power; they can decide when and where they want to talk, and they decide when to stop”, said Lina Lundström from Friends, a Swedish organisation working to prevent bullying and discrimination of children.

Many good examples
The internet is an important arena for children and youth, EU Commissioner Viviane Reding agreed. But teenagers and small children use the internet in different ways, which demands for different types of actions from adults, she said:

“We need to make a distinction between the protection of the very young users, and that of older teenagers. For young users we need high levels of safety and security and parental control. While children grow, we need to move on from "parental control" to empowerment”, Viviane Reding said.

There are many ways to spread knowledge and empower children and youth to use the internet in a safe way, Reding said and identified a number of good examples from inside and outside the EU. She also explained what is done by the EU, such as the agreement which was signed in February 2009 by 20 social networking companies active in Europe. Awareness-raising must go hand in hand with measures to protect children, and the EU strives to set up the necessary legislative framework to keep young people safe online and protect them from serious risks, such as abuse or grooming.

The telecom sector has an important role
The telecom sector also needs to take responsibility, Viviane Reding pointed out. There is also a great chance of doing so through commercial business models. John Carr from Children’s Charities Coalition on Internet Safety in Britain agreed, but was sad to say how the telecom sector often seem to find someone else as responsible for children’s safety online.

”We need jointly to tackle the side effects”, Cecilia Edström, senior vice president and head of group communications at TeliaSonera, said.

“TeliaSonera has taken active responsibility by blocking websites containing sexual abuse images through a service we are providing free of charge. We do not want our customers to be exposed, and we want to stop the industry from growing”, she continued.

Except for interesting speakers and panel discussions on stage, many discussions were held between the 130 participants from a number of countries, organisations, and companies.

MAJA SVENONIUS

Further information:

Viviane Reding's speech

Queen Silvia's speech

The full agenda

Do you need more information, or do you want to contact a participant from the seminar?
Please contact Anna De Geer at +46 8-551 175 02 or E-mail anna.de.geer@childhood.org