59% internet-using children suffer cyber abuse: BSMMU study

Around 59% of the children who use the internet in rural areas of Bangladesh have suffered at least one form of abuse on online spaces, revealed a study of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).

Around 33% of children aged 11-17 in rural areas of the country use the internet. Among them 38% have suffered at least two forms of cyber abuse, while 26% have suffered at least three such incidents, according to the research findings presented at Shaheed Dr Milon Hall of BSMMU yesterday.

The research paper titled "Cyber child abuse in Bangladesh: A rural population-based study" was published along with four other studies conducted by the Department of Public Health and Informatics of BSMMU on occasion of the World Children's Day.

The study said the common cyber abuses reported by children were being subjected to bullying, mockery, rumour, or humiliation (36%), contacted anonymously with ill motive (29%), receiving sexually explicit message or comment (21%), and receiving sexually explicit picture or video (17%).

Male children were victimised more by different forms of cyber abuse. Analysis showed that children who use the internet more than others are more likely to be victimised with cyber abuse.

"Children using the internet are victims of various types of cybercrimes including trolling, bullying, and asking for nude pictures. Besides, internet literacy of people in Bangladesh is low," Professor Dr M Atiqul Haque, principal investigator of the study, told The Business Standard.

"Keeping children away from the internet is not possible in this age. Therefore, parents should increase internet literacy to ensure safe internet use for children," said Dr M Atiqul Haque, head of Medical Statistics Division at Department of Public Health and Informatics of BSMMU.

BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Md Sharfuddin Ahmed, chief guest at yesterday's event, said, "Mobile phones should not be given to children under 16 years of age because they unknowingly get involved in many crimes when they use them. Children who are addicted to mobile phones should be barred from using them.

"They should be allowed to use mobile phones for a maximum of two hours a day but not more than half an hour at a time. This may help protect children from abuse in social media."

Another study released at the event found that around 16% of children aged 13-18 suffer high blood pressure. Increased sedentary time, obesity and lack of physical activity have been found to be risk factors.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, 20% of adolescents suffered from varying degrees of insomnia, with 18%, 14%, and 16% suffering from depression, anxiety, and depression respectively.

Speakers at yesterday's programme said another study conducted on 456 students of 9th and 10th grades in urban and rural Bangladesh in 2021 found that 56% of boys and 64% of girls had been sexually harassed through the Internet. The incidence of cyberbullying among urban children is over 1.5 times higher than that of rural children.

Children who use Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp and chatrooms are most likely to be sexually abused online, the study found.