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Kids in India have more exposure to online risks, says study

McAfee's Global Connected Family Study says kids in India adopt mobiles quicker. But parents are less concerned about risks than their global peers

Children between the ages of 10-14, adopt mobiles quicker than children elsewhere, said the Life Behind the Screens of Parents, Tweens, and Teens report by McAfee
Children between the ages of 10-14, adopt mobiles quicker than children elsewhere, said the Life Behind the Screens of Parents, Tweens, and Teens report by McAfee (Photo by Visuals on Unsplash)

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The recent pandemic-hit years have seen children spend more time at home being online — especially for online classes. This and the age old parenting conundrum, of whether or not to use a video on YouTube as a way to get children to sit still, tends to introduce them early on to an online life.

Now, released today, the Life Behind the Screens of Parents, Tweens, and Teens, a 2022 study by the online security company McAfee, has revealed that in India, children between the ages of 10-14, adopt mobiles quicker than children elsewhere. This statistic also comes combined with a red-flag: 48% children in India reportedly carry on “private conversations without knowing a person’s real identity” — this is “a noteworthy 11% higher than for other children around the world.” McAfee’s report also noted that India has an early age of mobile maturity.

This has increased children’s experience with online risks — this includes 22% of children being subject to cyberbullying, which is 5% more than the global average. “Note how this compares to the highest and lowest reported rates, with the U.S. at 28% and Japan at 6%,” the report added. 23% of children in India have also experienced leaks of financial information, which is at 13% more than the global average. 

Despite this, the study notes a slightly alarming follow-up statistic: parental concern about such cyber risks has trended lower in India, at only 47% of parents stating that they worry. This is 10% lower than the global average of 57%. Children in India, also reported a lesser concern towards exposure to cyber attacks of various kinds. While 49% of their peers worried about this globally, in India, only 42% expressed a similar concern.

The McAfee study had 15,500 parents of children in the age group of 10-18 participate in the study, along with over 12,000 of their children. The findings in the study “represent connected families not collections of individuals,” the report said.

Also Read: Cyberbullying is a real-world problem

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