THE government has “completely failed” to protect children from online harms, a Scrutiny chair has warned as her panel launches a review into the issue.
Deputy Catherine Curtis said a series of public hearings would be held with ministers on the issue.
Speaking to the JEP, Deputy Curtis also highlighted a lack of legislation to block or filter harmful online content in Jersey compared to the UK.
Online safety has made national news recently following critical acclaim for television drama Adolescence, which charted the journey of a young boy radicalised by online misogyny.
Deputy Curtis, who chairs the Children, Education and Home Affairs Panel, said submissions made to the panel so far were in agreement that more needed to be done to tackle the issue.
“I do think the government has completely failed on this over the last few years,” said Deputy Curtis, who added that they were carrying out a review as “this was not being looked at properly at all”.
“I think everyone’s been walking into this blindfolded,” she said. “My youngest child is 18, and if I could turn back time, I would never have let them have a smartphone, until 16-years-old, because the potential for damage is huge and I think generally, we haven’t realised how harmful it is.”
The panel has encouraged all Islanders to give their views by the end of May, ahead of the publication of the review which Deputy Curtis hopes will happen in July.
Several parents have already made submissions, and the panel has also received input from children’s commissioner Dr Carmel Corrigan and bodies such as JT, outlining the legal differences between Jersey and the UK, and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Deputy Curtis said: “All the submissions agree that something has to be done.
“I don’t think that was something that ministers understood, but now I think there is a recognition that things have to change, and there is work underway.”
The JT submission had been particularly concerning, she added, because it highlighted the lack of legislation in Jersey to mirror UK laws around the blocking or filtering of harmful online content.
The panel is also collating the different policies around smartphone use by pupils in all Island schools, and looking at the potential benefits of having different restriction for so-called “brick phones” which allow parents and children to contact each other without giving access to potentially harmful online platforms.
More detail about the current review is available at statesassembly.je/scrutiny/reviews while submissions can be sent by email to scrutiny@gov.je.
Survey tracks growing smartphone use
The 2024 survey of children and young people in Jersey, released last month, showed:
- By Year 12, 100% of students owned a smartphone, up from 63% in Year 6.
- Screen time had increased, with 39% of young people spending more than five hours on their devices the previous day, a rise from 36% in 2021.
- Those who had been bullied were more likely to report high screen time, with nearly half (49%) spending over five hours online, compared to 34% of those who had not been bullied.
- Over a quarter (28%) of females had received messages that scared them, compared to 20% of males.
- 30% of females and 25% of males had received sexual photos or videos online.
