Negative communications

Initially, negative communications are discussed. Negative communications for children included accessing inappropriate materials and receiving unkind / rude messages. There was a definite sense from children that this was not

appropriate.

5.4.1.1 Accessing inappropriate materials

Children's descriptions of negative communications included others engaging in activities on the internet which might be deemed inappropriate, as Jack reports.

Jack: Cause people can download things from the internet that are not

appropriate. Think that stuff is funny when it isn’t [Boys fgp, 9 / 10 years]. Here,

Jack wastalking about children downloading inappropriate images from

YouTube and sending them to others. This is similar to reports from Charlton et al. (2002), where they found children were receiving inappropriate and offensive materials. Byron (2008), and Livingstone and Helsper (2013) have also talked about children being able to easily access materials online that are not age- appropriate. They have called for restrictions to be put in place. The media frequently discuss this subject and express concern about its impact on children's development (Levy, 2013). Legislation has now been put in place, as outlined in chapter 2 (Department of Education, 2012a, 2012b), to help support parents with the restriction of children's access to such materials, through the use of parental controls.

Participating parents were concerned too that their children might be able to access inappropriate materials via the internet.

Father: I think it is something to do with society now, where people feel that they have to publicise everything on some social networking site. And you would be amazed at the sort of things they put on. […] Yeah; it can even go as far as pornographic [Int: 2, 11 years].

Other materials that concerned parents included gossip about friends and inappropriate messages from strangers. Participating children felt accessing such materials as inappropriate. They did not engage in it themselves but were aware of others who did. Research by Haddon and Vincent (2014, 2015) found similar evidence; where children avoided accessing such materials.

5.4.1.2 Receiving negative communications

Negative communications also mentioned by children included receiving rude comments from others, especially on social networking sites. Some children interviewed seemed to spend lengthy periods of time on these sites, which other researchers have also found (Haddon & Vincent, 2014, 2015). They would mainly speak with others they knew, but sometimes they would speak with others that they did not know. Club Penguin was a popular site, accessed by many.

R: I go on this website; it’s called like Club Penguin. I: Oh yes, I think I have heard of that. What do you do on Club Penguin?

R: It is like an online website where you can like make friends and talk [Boys' fgp, 9 / 10 years].

Some children had actually experienced negative communications such as rude comments being made on this website, as Gareth reports.

Gareth: On Club Penguin if anyone says like anything that- that is nasty to you, which sort of scares you or something- the moderators like will check the sites. … Or you can either say that there is a rude word [Children's fgp, 9 / 10 years].

A similar story was reported in another focus group.

Jack: And if someone is mean to you, mmm, you sort of moderate it. There is like a moderator on it. If someone is like mean to another person or you, then you can click on them and report them. And the computer will check through their writing [Boys' fgp, 9/10 years].

Despite rude comments being made, from the above examples, it would seem that these boys were confident and knew how to handle themselves. They knew their way around Club Penguin and were able to engage the moderator for help. The moderator would check their concerns, particularly rude comments, and action would be taken if their claims were substantiated.

So despite children encountering rude comments from others, they seem quite able to manage such situations. Children do not seem distressed by it either. In fact they are not prepared to let others get away with it. Ofcom (2012a) has found similar results; children were able to handle themselves on social

networking websites, much more confidently than parents and others might imagine. It is similar in this research too; children might be learning to use mobile / internet devices at a young age, but as a result of these experiences, they are able to confidently question and report negative communications that concern them.

Overall, it would seem that children interviewed felt that negative

communications on mobile / internet devices were inappropriate, which included being sent rude messages and materials. So although parents have concerns about children accessing the internet, some children are learning the skills necessary to manage their way around age-appropriate social networking sites and deal with negative communications. Yet there will be others who may not be so confident and are upset by these experiences, as O’Neill and Dinh

(2014) highlighted in relation to the 9 / 10 years olds they questioned. So the situation may vary, with some children being less confident. The consequences of which will be discussed later in the subtheme.

Oksman and Turtiainen (2004) and Boyd (2014) in their research with young people found similar to the research here; where they were accessing mobile / internet devices many learnt how to use them in a smart way. The findings here provide similar details on how children are behaving smartly on their devices, as the following section discusses further.

5.4.1.3 Dealing with negative communications

Children did mention that when they encountered negative communications on social networking sites for example, they would ask the moderator or seek

parental advice, which Hasebrink et al. (2011) has also found. Gareth reports on how his brother had experienced difficulties.

Gareth: My mum she emailed Club Penguin, to get an email back of what my brother had said. My mum knew that it was not him because he had not been on it. We got an email list of what he had said. It was someone else [Children’s fgp,

9 / 10 years].

It would seem that some children would not give up when something had gone wrong. Importantly, they were able to recognize their limitations. Yet, Healy and Anderson (2007) found in their research with 10 and 11 year olds that they

tended to over-estimate their abilities at managing difficulties on social networking sites. The evidence here is contrary; children tried to solve the problem themselves and if they experienced difficulties they would seek help from others, behaving smartly.

Young people's thoughts about negative communications were slightly different. They too commented on the behaviour of others but their discussions centred on teenage girls, in particular, behaving inappropriately. Young people reported

that some teenage girls were leaving themselves open to quite public exposure on social networking sites. This could lead to contact from strangers. Young people emphasized when using social networking, sites such as Facebook, that it was essential to keep one's settings private, to avoid this.

Maggie: They can't see anything, cause I have set it

completely to private. […] But sometimes some girls are a bit stupid and they don’t. And that is their own fault. They are quite aware of how to set it to private. It is stupid because they don’t set it to the most private setting they can [Ypfgp 2, 19 - 21 years].

So for young people, certainly girls, it was important to protect themselves from strangers. Failure to do so, could potentially lead to difficulties. Children

interviewed did not experience this as generally they were not accessing the same social networking sites as young people. Although, there was evidence of children being contacted inappropriately by strangers. In contrast to the above quote, they were very aware of the need to protect themselves.

Fiona: Once on Club Penguin there was this person who kept saying, who kept saying - where do you live, where do you live and stuff like that? I just ignored them. They kept saying it. No one else says that. They should not have been saying that [Children’s fgp, 9 / 10 years].

Children did sometimes receive negative communications. However, they were definitely keen to stop these communications from occurring, and would take action if and when they received them. Children in this research thought smartly about what action they should take.

However, other research has shown that children do not always cope as well as they think they can in dealing with negative communications (Healy &

Anderson, 2007), including not protecting themselves as well as they should (Haddon & Vincent, 2014, 2015). Once again this suggests that children might vary in their ability to cope with such situations, which parents must be aware. Children in this research were coping well; suggesting that support from parents, and perhaps school too, were helping them to cope with negative

communications on mobile / internet devices, as later explored. But without that support there might be risks for children receiving negative communications and not knowing how to deal with them.