A recent survey has found school children in India to be most vulnerable to cyber-bullying, account hacking and receiving inappropriate messages.
Conducted by Norwegian telecom giant Telenor, the Telenor India WebWise survey analysed Internet usage and access patterns of children across schools in 13 cities, involving 2,727 students.
The study showed that over 35 per cent children have had their accounts hacked while 15.74 per cent shared they had received inappropriate messages.
About 15 per cent of those bullied online complained, whereas 10.41 per cent faced humiliation through pictures/videos that were uploaded on the Internet.
While majority of the children were willing to approach their parents in case they experienced any harm online, over 76 per cent were not aware of the existence of the helpline for children: 1098.
“While the survey highlighted the vulnerabilities and cyber threats, it presented insights that can help create focused awareness campaigns around safe Internet practices,” Sharad Mehrotra, Chief Executive Officer, Telenor India Communications, said.
In addition, social media giant Facebook emerged as the favourite platform of school children, followed by WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram.
The survey revealed that in urban areas, 98.8 per cent of schoolchildren accessed the Internet to find information for school projects, to play games, read books, listen to music and watch movies, check their email and access social networking sites.
(With IANS inputs)
