“Snapchat showed pornography videos to me multiple times and TikTok has showed me lots of stuff related to suicide and self harm.”

- Girl, aged 12

“We are delighted to launch our 9th Annual Trends and Usage Report 'Left To Their Own Devices' today. This report provides a detailed overview of the data we collected in the 2023-24 academic year from over 7,000 children (aged 8-14) in both primary and secondary schools across Ireland. It gives a valuable insight into how children spend their time online, their levels of access to the online world, and their experiences, both positive and negative.  Click here to read more.

According to our report, a quarter (25%) of primary school children (aged 8-12) and 21% of secondary school children (aged 12-14) have been bothered or upset by harmful content such as scams, harassment, horror, and sexual material online. For 8-12 year olds, this most commonly occurred on YouTube (37%) and Roblox (23%), even though Roblox is widely perceived as a child-friendly social gaming environment. For secondary school children (aged 12-14), Snapchat (41%) and TikTok (30%) were identified as the most common platforms where these negative experiences occur. 55% of children aged 8 to 12 did not tell a parent when bothered, confused or upset by harmful content or unsolicited contact, rising to 63% for 12-14 year olds.

Save The Date!

Our fifth CyberBreak is taking place on Friday, 18th October, 2024. We're encouraging all families and schools across Ireland to 'disconnect to reconnect' by taking a complete break from our smart devices for 24 hours (5pm Friday - 5pm Saturday).