The Internet enables young mob to make cultural and social connections, gather important information and share creative content regardless of location, at the same time it is full of risk, particularly for First Nations children.
‘Cool, Beautiful, Strange, and Scary’, is the title of a new report commissioned by eSafety, that looks at the online experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their parents and caregivers, it’s also how one Indigenous teenager surveyed in the study described being online.
The report found First Nations kids are almost three times more likely than the national average to have had offensive things said to them because of their race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, age, or disability.
Professor Bronwyn Carlson and Madi Day of Macquarie University’s Department of Indigenous Studies made important contributions to the analysis of the survey data.
Carlson, an Aboriginal woman who was born and lives on D’harawal Country in NSW says First Nations kids are also very proactive in responding to negative experiences online, taking such steps like blocking or reporting the perpetrator & informing authorities about it.
Listen to the interview with Professor Bronwyn Carlson:
eSafety’s research, Cool, Beautiful, Strange and Scary: the online experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their parents and care givers
