Children as young as five could be accessing the internet without any protection after opening their Christmas gifts, internet safety experts have warned.
The problem, according to safety organisation Internet Matters, is that parents do not have enough knowledge or information when it comes to the latest gadgets and their ability to connect to the internet. They say new research found that 62% of parents said they did not set parental controls on any internet-enabled devices around the home.
According to the research, 40% of families are expecting internet-enabled devices as gifts this Christmas.
As a result, the organisation has created a new interactive tool on its website that gives parents a series of guides on how to set up restrictions for different devices, including smartphones, tablets and games consoles.
The tools enables parents to create a status monitor for all the devices at home, and whether or not they have activated parental controls on them, as well as offering step-by-step instructions on how to create restrictions for children.
Carolyn Bunting, general manager at Internet Matters said: "No one wants to stop children using the latest technology as it can help them develop social skills and be very educational as well as fun.
"But parents need to know how to manage the settings that control what parts of the internet their children see. Our new interactive tool will give parents a personalised guide to how to configure parental controls quickly and simply.
"It will give parents peace of mind and combined with taking a proactive approach to talking to their children about what they are doing online will help keep their children protected."
It comes just days after Prime Minister David Cameron launched an campaign against online child abuse, with a specialist unit run by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and GCHQ targeting prolific online offenders.
The PM urged parents and children to talk to each other about the dangers of online child sexual exploitation but added: "That's difficult for parents - we're still learning a lot about the internet ourselves."
The latest figures from Ofcom found that up to 40% of children now access the internet via a tablet, with 31% of parents telling Internet Matters that they did not know how to set up controls on such devices.
As well as aiding with device use, the new online tool shows parents how to set restrictions on websites like YouTube and BBC iPlayer.
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article