One of the biggest changes in the way we use technology has been the increased online literacy evident among younger generations. Seeing children confidently navigating the internet is no longer the novelty it once was, but the latest research from the UK’s communications regulator regarding their online behaviours highlights just how far young people’s use and adoption of technology has advanced, while prompting some concerns about safety and misinformation.
Ofcom’s Online Nation report, published in November 2023, found that a staggering 79% of 13 to 17-year-olds have used generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and services, with a further 40% of 7 to 12-year-olds also familiar with the technology. While ChatGPT remains the most widely-used of these tools among internet users aged over 16, Snapchat’s My AI is the tool of choice among children and early teens.
This statistic supports claims that younger generations are moving away from Google as the starting point for online searches. However, unlike Google, Snapchat’s FAQ page admits its tool’s responses may include “biased, incorrect, harmful or misleading content”. This raises questions about whether users are conducting the necessary due diligence before accepting Snapchat’s answers as the truth. And while the recent AI Safety Summit held at Bletchley Park and attended by 28 nations suggests that the problem of online misinformation is firmly on the radar of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, his pledge not to “rush to regulate the sector” indicates that there will still be a considerable need for the fact-checking of online content for the foreseeable future.
The widespread exposure to harmful content
In addition to the presence of online content that may not be factually correct, the Ofcom study also highlights potential issues with the suitability of the content that older children and teens are able to access online. While younger respondents were quick to say how they benefit from the internet in building and maintaining friendships and supporting their creativity, widespread circumvention of age controls potentially places them at increased risk of encountering harmful content online.
More than a fifth of the 8 to 17-year-olds questioned admitted to inputting a false user age of 18 or over in order to access certain age-restricted social media platforms, suggesting a need for tighter restrictions to avoid potential harm. Worryingly, almost three quarters of teenagers polled said they had encountered potential harms in the four weeks before they were surveyed, including unwelcome friend requests and content depicting animal cruelty or promoting self-harm.
Time is of the essence
The amount of time adults spend online also continues to trend upwards, according to the behavioural snapshot. While the daily average only equates to an additional eight minutes per day compared to the last annual survey in 2022, that adds up to an extra two days per individual per year, or an average of around 56 days each year.
This is perhaps surprising in two respects. Firstly, that internet use continues to increase despite all Covid restrictions (and subsequent limitations on face-to-face social interactions) coming to an end; and secondly, that the proliferation of online tools intended to make online searches and activity more efficient are not reducing the amount of time that people spend online.
Where people spend their time online is also starting to shift slightly. Ofcom’s research found that YouTube was visited by more UK online adults (91%) using smartphones, tablets or computers than Facebook (90.7%). A host of separate research indicating that TikTok has dethroned Google as the most popular website in the world further highlights subtle shifts in how people start – and continue – their online searches.
The ongoing popularity of smartphone apps will come as no surprise, but it may be news to some that it is those aged 25-44 who are the most frequent users, rather than the generation younger than them. Meta’s domination of this space remains intact, with WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Instagram proving the most-visited smartphone apps.
A safer future
The Online Safety Act recently received Royal Assent, meaning it passed into law, theoretically making the UK one of the safest places from which to access the internet. The new regulations place legal responsibility on tech companies to prevent and rapidly remove illegal content, while also protecting children from seeing harmful material.
The introduction of the Act, which has been several years in the making, has been backed by a number of organisations including the Mental Health Foundation, the NSPCC, Refuge, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
While undoubtedly a welcome step in the right direction, the formalisation of the new protections should be considered as the start of a new journey rather than the end of the process. Its success will hinge on a range of stakeholders ensuring all generations are kept safe when searching online.
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email webrequests@digitalis.com
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to webrequests@digitalis.com