Telekom presents today the results of a very important study, a study that tells us that for now children do not understand what kind of danger exists for them in the online environment, and below you have all the details.
"Children's education, protection and health are priorities for every parent. Certainly, the pandemic has generated new concerns for them, having to find the balanced option between providing their children with education, alternatives for spending free time and work. But parents' responsibilities are not limited to these difficult times, nor did they begin with them.
The lack of informing parents about online dangers that can traumatize children, the lack of open and honest communication with them about their friends, concerns and passions, unrestricted access to technology and the Internet, have made children digital citizens who suffer from online abuse and who rarely speak up about the traumas they go through. Minors who are online and have social media accounts on various free platforms should be aware of both the opportunities, as technology and the internet play an essential role in today's society, but also the pitfalls. The results of the survey* carried out by the ISRA Center for Telekom Romania show us that 53% of children are not aware that there are dangers online, and of those who say they have been bullied, 42% say they chose to talk to friends, colleagues or other people , hiding from their parents what they went through. What's even worse, 19% of children who have been bullied online say they have never talked to anyone about what happened.
In order to limit as much as possible the exposure of the little ones to online abuse, Telekom Romania offers all mobile service customers, existing or new, of prepaid cards or subscriptions, three months of free access to the Kaspersky Safe Kids Premium application.
The offer can be activated until October 18, 2020, by sending an SMS to the number 1333 with the text COPIL. At the end of the three months, customers will pay only 1 euro (5 lei)/month, VAT included, or 1 euro credit in the case of prepaid services.
The Kaspersky Safe Kids Premium app is available on both Android and iOS phones. The premium version of the mobile application includes the following features:
- Monitoring of calls and messages;
- Locating the child's phone on the map (geolocation);
- Managing the time spent by the child on the Internet;
- Filtering online content, websites that can be accessed;
- Availability on multiple devices: computer, laptop, phone, tablet;
- Real-time alerts and notifications when suspicious online activities or restricted actions are detected;
- Battery level monitoring.
At the same time, Telekom Romania and the Association Telefonul Copilului provide teenagers with free tools through which they can request support or counseling when they are victims of abuse, regardless of their nature, as follows:
- 116111 is an educational platform that brings together useful information on how to report cases of child abuse, but also the ways in which victims can request specialized counseling;
- HappyGraff is the first mobile application that provides access to counseling services for children and adolescents, directly from the mobile phone.
This works as a diary where teenagers can record their emotional states whenever they feel the need and where they have access to useful tips on how to manage different situations with difficult emotional states. The mobile application can be accessed on mobile phones with the Android operating system and is available for download in GooglePlay for free. The application can be LOW and from the website www.116111.ro.
- The free number 116111 that teenagers can call to express their fears, to talk about issues that directly affect them and, most importantly, to get help in an emergency, the number is available from Monday to Friday between 08:00-20:00.
The social workers and psychologists of the Telefonul Copilului Association answer these calls and offer specialized counseling services. In its more than 17 years of existence, the phone has rung more than 2.000.000 times.
We reproduce below, under the protection of anonymity, one of the cases in which children ask for the help of the Association Telefonul Copilului. Data has been redacted to preserve victim confidentiality:
Hi, my name is Octavian and I'm 16 years old. I'm facing a problem at school and I need some advice. The problem is that I am being bullied online.
At one point, a schoolmate created a fake Facebook page for me, announcing that I had died. Many people called me scared, including family members. I think it is a very serious thing that it has come this far.
Moreover, my schoolmates take advantage of me. They always write to me on social networks to do their homework, and I can't refuse them, because I would like to be friends. I wouldn't even want to tell my parents, because they will ban me from using the internet.
*The Kids security opinion poll was conducted by ISRA Center for Telekom Romania, between August 17-27, 2020, on a representative national sample of 1.000 respondents, of which 200 were children between the ages of 10 and 17. Data collection was done by phone and online."
