Baby Shark, Cocomelon, or TiKTok?!… too much screentime can lead to scream time.
By Kondjeni Ndakeva
In modern days, wanting a moment with a baby as old as two years; they would instantly reach out for your phone instead of a smooch or a peekaboo.
Many parents would find it amusing and fascinating that their kids are glued on their online devices watching “Baby Shark” or “Cocomelon”.
These are undoubtedly great online shows that contribute to the child’s cognitive development in early childhood. But as the child grows older, they become experts to using online devices and becoming tech savvy.
It’s for this reason parents feel the need to get their children their own devices and navigate the internet away from their parents’ supervision as they grow older.
On average, children aged 2 to 17 spend around two hours per weekday on their screens worldwide. Although this might seem not much of too much screentime with alignment to international standards, such amount of time can have a huge impact on a child’s online safety.
Online child safety is an overlooked issue by many people, especially African parents, children are left to surf the internet without any proper control and monitoring by parents.
A 2022 report by the Disrupting Harm Project indicated that in Namibia close to 9% of the children between the age of 12-17 who use the internet have experienced online sexual exploitations or abuse. This is made up mostly by grooming, sextortion and the sharing of non-consensual images.
A UNICEF study in Namibia of 2016 indicated that 68% of the children have reported seeing sexual online content which they did not intend to see. While 31% of the children received sexually explicit images from strangers and 29% came across child sexual abuse content.
Namibia’s Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, alongside UNICEF in 2020 have raised a concern in the rise of online child sexual exploitations. One of the high-profile cases recorded was that of Johann Wickus Maree
who was arrested in 2020 for recording and disseminating child pornography involving eight boys and sharing them online. This might be the only official recorded case in Namibia, but it does not take way the issue of online child protection and the unreported cases continue to increase.
Why child online safety?
Child online safety is very important because it protects children from being victims of bullying, sexual exploitations and harassments. These kinds of online exploitations can have a huge impact on a child’s mental health and social wellbeing. An increased screentime leads to social anxieties and loneliness leaving kids feeling unwanted or unloved.
With unsupervised online presences of children, they can be exposed to online sexual predators who take advantage of children by grooming them and making them rebellious against their parents.
Children get exposed to bad and dangerous online challenges; one notable case was an online challenge called “Momo Challenge” which gained worldwide attention. The challenge involved a distorted face appearing in videos or messages instructing kids to preform harmful tasks including committing suicide.
It is also important to monitor children’s online activities to note any form of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying just like any other form of bullying can have a huge toll on a child’s mental health pushing them to thoughts of suicide and unwarranted self- ratifications.
Notably children are easily exposed to online peer pressure, and they end up doing things that they were not supposed to do if it was not for the contents they see amongst their peers.
Monitoring
Just like a child needs some form of monitoring and control in their lives until they are of legal age, it is also important to monitor and control their social media presence, including their online chats, comments etc.
By doing so, parents have a chance to flag and report unwanted content and report suspicious accounts to the relevant authorities.
Parents can use certain tools to monitor their children’s online activities including chats, comments etc.
Apple devices (iOS) can make use of screentime, while Android devices can make use of Google Family link, this are free inbuilt application which allow tracking and monitoring of apps usage and setting limits to access certain apps.
Platforms such as the commonly used online streaming services like YouTube and Netflix have options to create kids friendly profiles. This automatically create and arrange content suitable for kids view.
Lastly, parents should not overlook the importance of monitoring their children’s online social activities, because the internet is full of content that could have a huge impact on children’s mental wellbeing. Parents should be proactive in managing and monitoring their children’s online presences. This can be done by installing monitoring tools on their children’s devices which also allow remote control from their phones away from their kids’ devices.
*Kondjeni Ndakeva is a Data Scientist, Software Developer and Database Administrator with a master’s degree in data science. He is passionate about leveraging data to drive impactful decisions and enhance democratic accountability in Namibia.
