How children and young people access inappropriate content
Children and young people may seek out inappropriate content, may accidentally come across it, or may be referred to it by others. This material may be viewed and shared in a range of internet-enabled environments, including social networking sites, peer-to-peer file sharing networks, websites and messaging applications like email and instant messenger. These environments can be accessed from internet-enabled computers and from internet-enabled mobile phones.
Accidental exposure
Children and young people may accidentally come across inappropriate content while undertaking otherwise innocuous activities. This could be by:
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clicking on hyperlinks within sites
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getting unexpected results from online searches
- opening junk or spam mail
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mistyping web addresses in the browser or incorrectly spelling terms in a search engine
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opening an email attachment or link in a body of text
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linking to a site sent in an IM conversation
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clicking on a pop-up
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clicking on online game content or prize.
Searching out content
Children and young people may also seek out and access content that they may know is forbidden by their schools, parents or by law. For some young people, searching out and forwarding this type of content to friends may be a form of social currency.
Internet content accessible through mobile phones
It is important to consider that students with internet-enabled mobile phones have 24/7 access to online content. This may increase the risk of exposure to inappropriate content.
Whether deliberate or not, exposure to problematic content may have negative psychological or behavioral effects on children and young people.