00:00A recent report from Ofcom, the UK's online safety regulator, revealed that nearly all children now spend time online.
00:08By age 11, 9 out of 10 children own a mobile phone.
00:13Among social media users aged 8 to 17, about three quarters have their own account on at least one major platform.
00:20Despite many platforms setting the minimum age at 13, six in ten children between 8 and 12 who use social media have their own profiles.
00:31The report also highlights that nearly three quarters of teenagers aged 13 to 17 have experienced one or more potential harms online.
00:40Additionally, three in five secondary school children have been contacted online in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.
00:47Ofcom notes there is a blurred line between children's online lives and their real world experiences.
00:54In response, the government's Online Safety Act 2023 mandates social media companies to take stronger measures to protect children.
01:02This includes removing illegal content such as child sexual abuse material and grooming, blocking harmful content related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, bullying and violence,
01:16and implementing age verification systems to prevent children from accessing pornographic or other inappropriate content.
01:24In terms of preparing specifically to help their children stay safe online, particularly when they're gaming, is to play together.
01:31One of the things that is really important for parents when they're feeling a bit overwhelmed about potentially what children might be exposed to online is to really think about and be aware of what of those games that they're playing, why they're playing it, why they enjoy them.
01:45And as you kind of play together, as you explore with your child, you can see those potential risks, whether it may be the chat functions that are available to them and how they can potentially be approached by strangers,
01:57whether it be the types of games and how that may be impacting their mood or their emotional well-being.
02:02So that's the first really important thing for parents to kind of do with their child to kind of have that understanding.
02:07The second thing is to be able to teach a child how to kind of manage their safety.
02:12So when it comes to exposing, maybe coming across a risk or seeing something that they don't know how to deal with, just being able to report it and to block anything that might be something that may be causing harm.
02:24So being able to know where, navigating where to kind of find those tools or those features within that game.
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