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Further implications
Some critics of age verification as a means of protecting children and adolescents from the harmful effects of online pornography suggest that support for such centralised measures indicate that many parents are not actively guiding their children's development within the digital world. The most recent Essential poll released by The Guardian Australia found that 79 percent of respondents support enforcing online age verifications for pornography and gambling sites and 76 percent support enforcing age verification for social media.
verification-social-med This seems to suggest that parents do not feel able to monitor their children's exposure to the online world.Virtually all Australian children have access to the internet within their own homes. The eSafety parent survey showed that 96 percent of Australian parents have some sort of internet connection in their home.
2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that 97 percent of households with children under 15 had access to the internet, with an average of seven internet-connected devices in each household. With this level of internet connection by families, it is likely that many children have been exposed to problematic material or had negative experiences online. In 2016-17, 14 percent of connected households with children aged 5-14 stated a child had been exposed to inappropriate material and 5 percent of these households stated a child aged 5-14 had been subject to cyberbullying.
It is probable that in many other households' problematic internet experiences had occurred but without parents' knowledge.As indicated by a recent eSafety survey, the rated parent concerns about online risks to their children were 38 percent concerned about exposure to inappropriate content (other than pornography), 37 percent concerned about contact with strangers, 34 percent concerned about online bullying, 33 percent concerned about exposure to online pornography, and 31 percent concerned about their children developing an internet addiction.
However, what is even more concerning than the areas about which the surveyed parents were worried, is their responses to questions about how they manage their children's exposure to the internet. Though 78 percent stated that that they took an active role in monitoring what their child does online, the figures dropped dramatically when parents were asked about their ability to respond to negative online experiences. Only 46 percent were confident to deal with any cyberbullying that their child might face. While only the same percentage knew where to go to get help for their child's online safety issues or felt confident to deal with the online threats that their child could face.
The above data indicates that less than half of Australian parents know how to assist their children if something goes wrong online. Joseph Scaramucci, a US expert in human trafficking law enforcement has urged that parents become more informed and more actively involved in the online lives of their children. He advises this because of his awareness that even pre-teens can avoid filters and age verifications in their eagerness to explore the web. Scaramucci has urged that parents 'Foster open and honest conversations with children about sexuality and pornography. Provide age-appropriate information about healthy relationships, consent, and the potential harms of pornography.'
verification-pornography-websites-texas-wont-stop-scaramucci-oxxoc/ Scaramucci seems concerned that parents help their children establish a set of attitudes about sexuality and pornography that will make them less likely to seek it out and more aware of its negative impacts.In Australia, however, recent survey data suggests that parents would like this role to be taken on by schools. Parents wanting more sex education delivered within schools includes parents agreeing that more information be given to students about the nature and the hazards of pornography. In an article published by The Conversation on April 4, 2023, Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer at Curtin University, wrote, 'Interestingly, [parental] preference [shown within recent survey data] was for more sensitive lessons, such as reasons to engage/not engage in sex, safer sex practices, sexting, contraception, and pornography to start in years 7 and 8. This is an important finding,' Hendriks notes, 'as we know many schools hold off on delivering a lot of their sexuality education until years 9 and 10, as guided by the Australian curriculum.'
Clearly, many countries, including Australia, are coming to recognise the need to guide children through the online world, including that of sex sites. What is currently lacking is consensus around how this is best achieved.