THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF INTERNET THREATS AND SAFETY METHODS

AMONG CHILDREN IN SRI LANAKA

By

R.P. Sandaruwan
MC 67050
CPM 10123

An Independent Research Report

Submitted to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
BSc. Accounting (Special)
December 10 , 2015
Department of Accounting
Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Nugegoda

1|Page

Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to the lecturer; Professor
Kennedy Gunawardena who spent his valuable time and effort in completing this
coursework properly.
And also I would like to take this opportunity to thank to all the other lecturers, staffs
members and every one for their dedication to get my studies successful.
Finally I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone, who helped me in various ways to
complete my assignment.
Thank you!Abstract

Background
In Sri Lanka, children are gaining access to the internet and online technologies at a rapid
pace. However, there are substantial differences between their knowledge about internet
threats and safety methods against it. Therefore it is worthwhile to carry out a research to
be knowledge how the level of awareness about internet threats and safety methods among
the children.
Methods
This paper surveys recent literature and in the field of childrens experience on the internet,
intending to find out the knowledge among children about internet and safety methods. In
order to gather primary data it is expected to use the quantitative approach and the
questionnaires will be distributed among randomly selected students of two government
schools within Colombo and outside Colombo.
Results
In this paper, researchers find that recent literature on the online usage of children and the
threats and risks of the internet.
2|Page

Discussion and Conclusion

This study investigates the level of awareness of the internet threats and safety methods
among children. It can be concluded that the educational level/ internet literacy level and
concern about threats protecting behaviour highly affect to the awareness level of internet
threats and safety among children.
Key words
Internet threats, Safety methods, Level of awareness among children

Contents
Acknowledgement..................................................................................................................2
1

Introduction.....................................................................................................................6
1.1

Chapter Overview....................................................................................................6

1.2

Background of the study..........................................................................................6

1.3

Objective of the study..............................................................................................7

1.4

Scope of the study....................................................................................................7

Literature Review............................................................................................................8
2.1

Chapter over view....................................................................................................8

2.2

Online usage of children..........................................................................................8

2.3

Risks and the threats of using internet...................................................................10

Research method...........................................................................................................15
3.1

Chapter overview...................................................................................................15

3.2

Data collection.......................................................................................................15

3.3

Types of variables..................................................................................................16

3|Page

3.4

Hypothesis..............................................................................................................16

3.5

Sampling................................................................................................................18

3.6

Data analysis method.............................................................................................18

3.7

Chapter summery...................................................................................................18

Data analysis..................................................................................................................19
4.1

Chapter overview...................................................................................................19

4.2

Sample Overview...................................................................................................19

4.3

Descriptive statistics of the participants.................................................................20

4.4

Analysis of the findings.........................................................................................23

4.5

Chapter summery...................................................................................................29

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................30

References.............................................................................................................................31
Appendix...............................................................................................................................33

4|Page

Chapter 01
1

Introduction

1.1 Chapter Overview

This study explored the level of awareness of the internet threats and safety methods
among children. The subsections of the chapter provide a comprehensive introduction to
the research by having a thorough discussion of research background, /objectives of the
study and scope of the study.

1.2 Background of the study

Now-a-days internet has become a vital part in our life style. In every aspect of our lives, internet
has become a part of them. Internet is essential in each and every field and profession. It has
become a common and a well-known thing among everyone from the small child to adult persons
which means every person in the society is aware about the internet. That means even the small
children are aware about what is called internet. In todays society, children are growing with the
technological environment so that its not a new thing or magical thing for them further.
Internet has both advantages and disadvantages. When concentrating about the advantages, e-mail
facilities, access to information, online shopping, online chat, downloading services can be
considered as the main advantages. Identity theft, loss of confidential information/data, theft

5|Page

of network resources, damaged personal reputation; financial losses are the common
disadvantages.
When using internet, one should be aware about all of those. But, the pathetic situation is
when children are using the internet, they are only aware of the benefits of the internet most of the
time. Although they are using internet, they dont know anything about internet threats. So that as a
result, automatically they become victims of the internet threats.
Lack of awareness of the internet threats can cause negative consequences on children such as child
abuse, sexual harassments, child pornography etc. If no precautions are taken, children and young
people can come across serious dangers and become the victims of internet crimes.
If the children are allowed to use internet, they should be made aware by the parents about the
internet threats as well as safety methods. If using those methods, one can avoid the threats and use
internet safely without getting affected by any bad impact.

1.3 Objective of the study

To find out the existing childrens level of awareness on internet threats.

One of the main objectives of this study is to find out the existing childrens level of awareness
on internet threats. When using the internet, children should be made aware about the internet

threats.
To find out the relationship between childrens awareness on internet threats and internet
safety methods.
The other objective of this study is to find out the relationship between childrens awareness on
internet threats and internet safety methods. There may be a direct relationship between the
aware ness about the internet safety methods and impact from the threats. If children are aware
about the safety methods which they can use in order to surf the internet safety, they may not
face to internet threats.

1.4 Scope of the study

This research includes conducting a survey using selected appropriate fact finding
techniques in order to discover the level of awareness of the internet threats and internet safety
among children. For the purpose of this research, the scope has been limited to the students
6|Page

from grade nine to thirteen who are studying the subject of IT as a subject in their schools.
Two schools were selected for the collection of data namely Ananda College as a Colombo
district school and Eheliyagoda Dharmapala Vidyalaya as an out of Colombo district
school.
The study was carried out by using views and responses of 60 students. Out of that, 30
students are selected from Ananda College representing Colombo District and 30 students
from Eheliyagoda Dharmapala Vidyalaya representing out of Colombo.

Chapter 02
2 Literature Review
2.1 Chapter over view
This chapter includes a thorough review of literature in relation to the research scope. The
main areas concerned in the literature review are the online usage of children and risks and
the threats of using internet.

2.2 Online usage of children

With the development of the technology, today the children has unlimited access to
internet. Almost all the children use internet for various purposes. Even the small children
who are in the age between 5 -7 also know how to operate computers and they know how
to access internet and search things. Internet can act as a knowledge sharing method and be
useful in educational purposes. But on the other hand, it can also act as a dangerous thing
for children when considering about the internet threats. Children are not aware about the
risks of the internet so that they automatically become the victims of the internet and
sometimes become part of internet crimes also.
7|Page

Young people access the internet from numerous places: home, libraries, school, internet
cafes among others. Some recent research studies have demonstrated a number of potential
online risks for students. To be able to filter out potentially hazardous content or to alarm
students and parents on the potential consequences we first need to have a good
understanding of the existing online threats. Then we can mechanically filter out some of
the dangerous content and prohibit delivery to children.
Some recent statistics showed that for a growing portion of the online teen population,
schools have become an important venue for internet use for a significant number of teens
(The Internet at School, 2005). More than three in five online teens who use the internet
from multiple locations list school as the location where they go online most often.
Libraries are also a place where students can access the web.
Young (2004) discusses the problems of internet addiction. In her research she takes a
closer look at how the internet can create marital, academic, and job-related problems to
adult users. Griffiths (1999) explores the concept of technological addiction defining it as
behavioral addiction (as opposed to chemical) containing core components of addiction:
salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse.
Arnaldo (2001) the problem of child abuse on the internet is discussed and the legal
implications and some technologies for reducing the problems are presented. Stanley
(2001) explores the relationship between child abuse and the internet and in particular child
sexual exploitation and childrens exposure to sexually explicit or offensive material. She
points out that there are several opportunities for adults to move the conversation with a
child to a private chat room or to a mobile phone. In Finkelhor et al. (2000) it is pointed out
there is a need for better cooperation between social scientists and internet technologists to
develop strategies to address offensive internet content.
.
It also seems that parents are very often not aware how much time children spent surfing
the internet. 62 percent of the children admit to using the computer secretly at home at
school, at friends places or in libraries (De Telegraaf, 2005). Parents and educators also
8|Page

often believe that they know what children are experiencing while surfing the web. They
install for example the computer in the living room so that they can observe their child
while watching television or doing something else. Children are, however, very clever in
misleading their parents. As a matter of fact children are the most sophisticated users of the
net within the family.
Yusuf et al. (2014) stated that more than 90% of the children are using internet via high
speed broadband or smartphone to have easy access almost anywhere. Further it has
identified that majority of the children are spending an average of 19 hours per week on
online-related activities whereas almost 9 out of 10 children have been exposed to negative
online experiences or threats from the internet.
Though many researchers reasoned internet assists children in their education (Tseng et al.
2010) argued that the online behaviour of the children is more entertainment oriented.
Further it was highlighted mainly children are using internet for the purpose of playing
online games and as they are using internet at their homes parents should discipline and
instil their children with proper online behaviour and safety. While supporting the same
argument, in a recent study (Nikken & Jensz n.d.) it has been pointed out that using media
has increasingly turned into a solitary activity for all members of the networked household;
in separate spaces, including childrens bedrooms, or on mobile platforms. Among children
this pattern is discernible with respect to surfing the web, as well as using other media such
as mobile phones.

2.3 Risks and the threats of using internet

The World Wide Web (WWW) has rapidly become one of the most widely used services of
the internet along with e-mail. Its friendly interface and its hypermedia features attract a
significant number of users around the globe. Due to these reasons, children face risks
when using the internet. Some of the main risks and threats which can have a huge impact
on children are listed below.
Adult content
9|Page

The internet is a new medium which allows the easy access to pornographic material in
various multimedia forms. The access to such content is easy, immediate, anonymous, and
available 24 hours a day. Students can easily discover such material online in various
legitimate web locations or with the aid of search engines. They can also come across it
accidentally. Although school proxy servers and security policies may prohibit access to
sites containing adult material there is still a high possibility that adult content may be
found in web sites with sport material or jokes. This material may include actual images or
textual descriptions or links to such pages. Further, search engines provide such facilities
through their image searching service and although restrictions based on the search terms
may apply, it is not always possible to prevent students from discovering images of a
sexual nature. Especially in non-English languages where search engines are relatively
weaker in image queries (Lazarinis, 2008), students may bypass the restrictions by using
search terms which are not identified as inappropriate terms by the search engines.
Paedophilia and sexual harassment
The web can provide alternative ways to pederasts to approach children trying to win their
trust and then to either electronically abuse them or attempt to meet in person. Durkin
(1997) had identified four possible ways in which paedophiles might misuse the internet. It
can be used to traffic child pornography, to locate children to molest, to engage in
inappropriate sexual communication with children, and to communicate with other
pedophiles. Durkin and Bryant (1999) in a survey about paedophiles in newsgroups
realized that paedophiles that use the computer newsgroup advertise and propagandize their
ideological position. Another article reviews the available information on sexual
harassment in cyberspace, equates this phenomenon with what has been learned about
sexual harassment offline, points to specific characteristics of online culture and technology
that reinforce the behavior, and proposes ways of promoting prevention (Barak, 2005).
Cyber bullying
According to www.stopcyberbullying.org, cyber bullying is the situation where a child,
preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise
targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the internet, interactive and digital
10 | P a g e

technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been
instigated by a minor against another minor. In the context of this paper, cyber bullying is
concerned with personal e-attacks in web pages frequented by students. If these personal
attacks regard children or adolescents then they are considered as a problem for safer
internet surfing by students.
Offensive language
Coarse language is a common phenomenon and problem in schools which is usually
reported to head masters and teachers (Dupper, 1998). Web pages and blogs are under no
control and they may use certain vulgarities or phrases which are insulting to special
groups. Some researchers urge extending the regular laws (applying to say radio and TV) to
cover the internet as well and point out that vulgarity is one problem found online (Astier,
2005).
Sexual discrimination or favouritism
During the last years there is a growing concern among researchers about how technology
has influenced women or other sexual orientation groups (Ahuja, 2002). The present
subcategory refers to how sexual discriminations are promoted in web sites. That is we care
about the existence of content (e.g. text, images, jokes) which might present inappropriate
ideas against women or other sex-oriented groups or might prejudicially present specific
sexual attitudes (paedophilia, homosexuality, homophobia) as being the most suitable
alternative or as being something that is fashionable and stylish. Nosek et al. (2002) based
on a large sample of internet pages reports a clear preference for white people over black,
young men over old and the respondents of their survey tended to link men with science
and career and women with liberal arts and family.
Online gaming and gambling
A 2006 national survey carried out by the International Gaming and Research Unit at
Nottingham Trent University, in cooperation with other organizations, with the
participation of 8,017 young people aged between 12 and 15, identified that 77 per cent of
boys and 68 per cent of girls had gambled (NCL Report, 2006). Gambling through the
11 | P a g e

internet, or a mobile handset or through Interactive TV has made gambling more accessible
than ever. There are an estimated of more than 2,500 web sites offering gambling services
now globally (www.gamcare.org.uk). The convenience of gambling remotely, the ease of
setting up a gambling account and the variety of forms of gambling from traditional
betting, to casino gambling, bingo and lotteries makes online gambling very appealing.
Several web sites which are dedicated to sports, jokes, fashion, actors and singers offer free
games and sometimes offer the possibility to gamble and win virtual money especially
through invasive popup windows. These sites are accessible by students and frequent use of
them might lead them in becoming addicted.

Online violent games or images with violent representations

Social networks like www. flickr.com contain numerous violent images. Exposure to
violence has been implicated as one cause of subsequent aggression and violence. It is
believed that repeated exposure to real-life and to entertainment violence through various
media (especially in films and TV) may alter cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes
(Donnerstein and Smith, 1997). There is also an abundance of violent online games which
children may freely play. Some researchers call online violence as cyber violence and call
for proper education in order for users to experience a rewarding internet access. There is a
strong relation between cyber violence and cyber bullying (Chisholm, 2006), but the
second form refers to the involvement of under aged subjects in both sides of the online
communication. Cyber violence is more general and in this paper we concerned about the
existence of violent content or violent online games which may cause aggression problems
to children.
Social disclosure
Online social networks such as Friendster (www.friendster. com), MySpace
(www.myspace.com), or the Facebook (www.facebook.com) have experienced exponential
growth in membership in the last few years. Privacy concerned individuals who join the
networks end up in revealing great amounts of personal information (Acquisti and Gross,
2006). These data span from personal photos to identification details. It has also been
12 | P a g e

observed that people might provide fake personal details, so the individuals who disclose
too many personal data might be exposed to the deceitful ones.
Racism
Several web sites are dedicated to promoting dangerous ideas related to racism and
xenophobia. These web sites are easily traceable. However in a number of totally legitimate
web sites targeting at a young audience there might exist racist jokes or images or other text
which promote unconsciously these unacceptable ideas.

Bomb making or drug usage or gunfire usage

Hope (2006) mentions about the existence of bomb making or drug usage web sites which
as it has been observed they are visited by children. Some of these sites are educational,
nevertheless the techniques they present can be very dangerous for children and their
access should be prohibited. Access could be denied on a number of these sites based on
their content. For instance, many web sites of a political, subversive or other antigovernment nature are already banned in certain countries, e.g. China.
Pirating
The effects for students of illegal downloading of music and software (also called pirating)
have been studied in a number of studies (DAstous et al., 2005; Higgins et al., 2007).
DAstous et al. (2005) concluded that individual who had swapped music on-line in the
past had a strong influence on ones intention to do it again.

13 | P a g e

Chapter 03
3 Research method
3.1 Chapter overview
This chapter discusses about the research paradigm and approach, population and study
sample, data collection, data analysis strategies followed by chapter summary.
Research questions which are related to the study were comprised with quantitative aspects.
Hence, for the purpose of assessing the level of awareness on Internet threats and safety
methods of the children in Sri Lanka, the research has been conducted using quantitative
techniques. This approach has been adopted to test the hypothesis mentioned in the
research questions.

3.2 Data collection

Sources of Data

Both primary and secondary data was gathered in finding the answers for research
objectives. The primary data was gathered to fill the research gap in the existing literature.
Primary data has been gathered through questionnaires which were distributed among the
14 | P a g e

selected children while secondary data was gathered form the existing research articles.
Accordingly, as the main source of data of the research, it was considered the data which
was collected from questionnaires. Other than that, many academic journals and articles
were used as sources of data in achieving the pre- determined objectives of research.
Collection of data

Questionnaires
In order to obtain an overall understanding regarding the level of awareness of the internet
threats and safety methods among children, a questionnaire was developed to distribute
among children who were selected for survey. In the first section of questionnaire is
designed to collect demographic information such as gender, age, usage of internet etc.
From the next part onwards it is being asked from the selected children on the view point of
measuring the level of awareness of children regarding internet threats and safety.

3.3 Types of variables

Conceptual framework
After reviewing the existing literature relating to the awareness level of children about
internet threats and safety methods, the conceptual framework for the research was
developed by the researcher identifying dependent and independent variables.

Independent variables
Concern for threats protecting behavior
Internet Literacy Level
Friends Impact

Dependent variables
Awareness on Internet threats and safety methods
15 | P a g e

Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the research

3.4 Hypothesis
The purpose of the study is to identify the relationship between independent variables and
dependent variable. Therefore it is expected to describe to what extent the independent
variables impacts to the awareness level on internet threats and safety methods. The
following hypothesis was tested in the study.

Hypothesis 1:
H01= There is no relationship between concern for threats protecting behaviour and
awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
H11= There is a relationship between concern for threats protecting behaviour and
awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
Hypothesis 2:
H02= There is no relationship between internet literacy level and awareness on
internet threats and safety among children.
H12= There is no relationship between internet literacy level and awareness on
internet threats and safety among children.
Hypothesis 3:
H03= There is no relationship between friends impact and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
H13= There is no relationship between friends impact and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
16 | P a g e

Hypothesis 4:
H04= There is no relationship between parental mediation and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
H14= There is no relationship between parental mediation and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.

3.5 Sampling
Population and Sample
Population of this study contained all the parents of the students in from grade nine to
thirteen of Ananda College and Eheliyagoda Dharmapala Vidyalaya. The reason for the
selection of above two schools for this study is due to the information accessibility and
exploring the different viewpoints about the internet threats and safety methods among
children from different geographical areas of the country. The sample of 60 participants
were generated by using the stratified sampling methods and it was expected that the
population was provide a reasonable mean to obtain information on awareness on internet
threats and safety methods.

3.6 Data analysis method

Data analysis
Data gathered from the survey was analysed by using Statistical Package of Social Sciences
(SPSS 16.0). The major reason for selecting SPSS for analysing data was the ability to
handle large amount of data in an efficient and user friendly manner. Further it is a tool
which can be used to retrieve output in certain cases graphically as well. The research gaps
identified were used as a basis for reaffirming the relevance of the research problem,
developing the research. Primary data which were collected using questionnaires was
analyses quantitatively by the researcher. For all demographic questions, it was used
17 | P a g e

frequency analysis. The factor analysis, descriptive analysis, regression analysis,

parametric and non- parametric analysis were used for the purpose of testing hypothesis as
applicably.

3.7 Chapter summery

This study was carried out by using a survey of 60 respondents of two schools in Colombo
and out of Colombo. The conceptual framework was developed with four independent
factors to measure the level of awareness of the internet threats and safety methods of the
selected sample. The content was extended to discuss the date analysis techniques and
further chapter was used to justify the data analysis software.

Chapter 04
4 Data analysis
4.1 Chapter overview
This chapter includes a discussion on the findings of the survey. That is based on the results
achieved through the analysis by SPSS on the survey conducted with the 60 respondents.

4.2 Sample Overview

60 students have been contributed to conduct this survey. Almost all of them have successfully
completed the questionnaire which was distributed among them so that the response rate can be
determined as 100%.
For this survey, 30 students from a Colombo district school and 30 students from an out of
Colombo district school were selected. Following table is a summary of the participation in terms
of living area of the respondents.
Area
Colombo
18 | P a g e

Number of Respondents
30

Valid percentage
50%

Out of Colombo
Total

30
60

50%
100%

Table 1: Classification of respondents by living area

Out of the sample selected, 88.3% use Internet and online relates while 11.7% dont use the
internet.
Usage of Internet
Cumulative
Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Yes

53

88.3

88.3

88.3

2 No

11.7

11.7

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Table 2: Internet usage of the participants

4.3 Descriptive statistics of the participants

A descriptive statistics analysis was carried out to get an understanding of the characteristics of the
participants to the survey. 50% of the participants were selected from Ananda College representing
Colombo district and 50% from Eheliyagoda Dharmapala Vidyalaya representing out of Colombo
district. According to the analysis, it was identified that out of total participants, 56.7% are male
and 43.3% are female. Students who are in the age category of above 16 years use internet more
than the students who are in between 14-16 years of age. Out of the students who are using the
Internet, 56.7% of students use internet at home whereas 13.3% students use at school too. And also
73.3% use internet daily which means it can be concluded that they have got addicted to internet
usage. Most of the students are using internet for multiple purposes such as entertainment, social
networking, online purchasing and playing games etc. The percentage of that is 26.4%.
Area of Living
Cumulative
Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Colombo

30

50.0

50.0

50.0

2 out of Colombo

30

50.0

50.0

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Table 3: Area of living of the participants

19 | P a g e

Table 4: Place of the participants internet used.

Gender

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

1 Male

34

56.7

56.7

56.7

2 Female

26

43.3

43.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Table 5 : Gender of the participants

Age group

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

1 14-16

25

41.7

41.7

41.7

2 16<

35

58.3

58.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Table 6: Age of the participants

Place

Number of Respondents

Valid Percentage

Home

34

56.7%

School

13.3%

Internet Caf

5%

Friends Home

6.7%

Library

3.3%

Any other

3.3%

Total

53

100%

20 | P a g e

Figure 2: Place of using Internet by the participants

How often the Internet is used

Cumulative
Valid

Missing
Total

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Daily

44

73.3

83.0

83.0

2 Twice a Week

5.0

5.7

88.7

3 Weekly

6.7

7.5

96.2

4 Monthly

3.3

3.8

100.0

Total

53

88.3

100.0

System

11.7

60

100.0

Table 7: Frequency of the Internet usage of the participants

Number of

Valid

Purpose
All Purposes
Entertainment, Playing games, Social Networking and Online

Participants
14
08

Percentage
26.4%
15.1%

purchasing
Playing games, Social Networking and Online purchasing
21 | P a g e

12

22.7%

Social Networking and Online purchasing

Online purchasing
Other Combination
No purposes
Total

07
03
09
00
53

13.2%
5.7%
16.9%
00%
100%

Table 8: Classification of the purpose of using Internet

After analyzing the usage of internet it was noted that majority of non-using persons are represented
by female (71.4%) and from which most of one are living outside the Colombo (85.7%).When we
concern about their educational level most of the participants are represented by Grade 11,12 and
13 (58.3%).

4.4 Analysis of the findings

To get an understanding of the impact of living area for the knowledge about internet threats
and safety, we used a sample of students from two schools of Colombo (50%) and outside
Colombo (50%) that are in between grade 9 to thirteen. After that in order to get an
understanding of their internet literacy, they were questioned whether they use internet or not.
For which they have positively answered and out of which 88.7% have been using internet and
only 11.3% havent used internet. The students who are using internet mostly access to the
internet at home, which was 56.7% out of all internet used students.
Further it was asked about the habit of internet usage. As a usual thing among the children in
todays global world, out of internet using students 83% are accessing internet daily. That is a
very big sign for us, which indicates that the internet addiction of Sri Lankan children is very
high. Even though they have been addicted to internet, they are not spending much more time
to browse the internet. According to our analysis it was 56.6% who spend only less than one
hour per day for browsing the internet.

22 | P a g e

Time of using Internet

Cumulative
Valid

Missing

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 <1

30

50.0

56.6

56.6

2 1-3

15

25.0

28.3

84.9

3 3-7

11.7

13.2

98.1

4 7-10

1.7

1.9

100.0

Total

53

88.3

100.0

System

11.7

60

100.0

Total

Table 9: Internet browsing time per day by the participants

Most of the students are using their personal smart phone as a devise to browse the internet.
According to our analysis 47.2% are using their smart phone to access internet. Therefore most of
them are aware about this internet threats and safety.

Devise used to access Internet

Cumulative
Valid

Missing

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Desktop/Laptop

22

36.7

41.5

41.5

2 Smart Phone

25

41.7

47.2

88.7

3 Tablet

10.0

11.3

100.0

Total

53

88.3

100.0

System

11.7

60

100.0

Total

Table 10: Devise used to browse Internet by the participants

To measure their knowledge regarding their knowledge about the internet threats, they were asked
about the types of threats they are facing when using the internet .Based on the answers given by
the, we can conclude that most of the children have faced Virus/Spam threats when browsing the
internet. They mentioned that Sexual risks and Hackers might be the second threat they have to face
while using internet and online relates.

23 | P a g e

The Main Threat Experienced

Cumulative
Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Viruses/Spam

39

65.0

73.6

73.6

2 Sexual_risks

10.0

11.3

84.9

3 Hackers

10.0

11.3

96.2

1.7

1.9

98.1

5 Others

1.7

1.9

100.0

Total

53

88.3

100.0

System

11.7

60

100.0

4
Stealing_personal_information

Missing
Total

Table 11: The main internet threat experienced by the participants

Finally they were asked to mention their opinion about their internet safety methods which they use
mostly in the view point of them. The responses of them indicate that most of the children are
aware about using anti virus programs and percentage of that is 67.9%. Most of them are aware
that the usage of strong passwords will also act as an internet safety method and it has an 18.9%.

The Main Preferred Safety Method

Cumulative
Valid

Missing

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Percent

1 Use_Anti-Virus Programs

36

60.0

67.9

67.9

2 Use_a_firewall_program

8.3

9.4

77.4

3 Use_strong_passwords

10

16.7

18.9

96.2

5 Make_backup

3.3

3.8

100.0

Total

53

88.3

100.0

System

11.7

60

100.0

Total

Table 12: The main preferred safety method by the participants

24 | P a g e

Statistics

Valid

Missing
Mean
Std. Deviation
Minimum
Maximum

Average A

Average B

Average C

Average D

Average E

53

53

53

53

53

7
3.3632
.32731
2.75
4.00

7
3.5358
.50501
2.40
4.20

7
3.2075
.56427
2.20
4.20

7
3.4088
.41675
2.67
4.00

7
3.5925
.36366
3.00
4.40

Table 13: The general view of the participants

Testing hypothesis 1:
H01= There is no relationship between concern for threats protecting behaviour and
awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
H11= There is a relationship between concern for threats protecting behaviour and
awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
According to the findings of the bivariate correlation, the null hypothesis that have been
developed for the concern for threats protecting behaviour and awareness on internet
threats and safety of the children is strongly rejected (p-value = 0.023) and it can be
conclude that there is a huge relationship between concern for threats protecting behaviour
and awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
Correlations

Average.A

Pearson Correlation

Average.A

Average.B

.312*

Sig. (2-tailed)

Average.B

.023

53

53

Pearson Correlation

.312*

Sig. (2-tailed)

.023

53

53

Table 14: Correlation-Concern for threats protecting behavior

25 | P a g e

Testing hypothesis 2:
H02= There is no relationship between internet literacy level and awareness on
internet threats and safety among children.
H12= There is no relationship between internet literacy level and awareness on
internet threats and safety among children.
In analysing the above relationship we concluded that the null hypothesis is rejected (pvalue = 0.013).It was finally concluded that there is a strong relationship between internet
literacy level and awareness level among children.
Correlations

Average. A

Pearson Correlation

Average. A

Average. C

.339*

Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Average .C

.013
53

Pearson Correlation

.339

Sig. (2-tailed)

.013

53

53
*

53

Table 15: Correlation- The internet literacy level

Testing hypothesis 3:
H03= There is no relationship between friend impact and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
H13= There is no relationship between friend impact and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
In testing how their friends impact to the students awareness level, we concluded that there
is no relationship between friend impact and awareness level among children of internet
threats and safety methods because of null hypothesis is accepted (p-value = 0.480).

26 | P a g e

Correlations

Average.A

Pearson Correlation

Average.A

AverageD

-.099

Sig. (2-tailed)

AverageD

.480

53

53

Pearson Correlation

-.099

Sig. (2-tailed)

.480

53

53

Table 16: Correlation- The Friends impact

Testing hypothesis 4:
H04= There is no relationship between parental mediation and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
H14= There is no relationship between parental mediation and awareness on internet
threats and safety among children.
According to the findings of bivariate correlation between parental mediation and
awareness on internet threats and safety among children, the null hypothesis that have been
drown was accepted (p-value= 0.996) and it was concluded that there is no relationship
between parental mediation and awareness on internet threats and safety among children.
Correlations

Average .A

Pearson Correlation

Average. A

Average E

.000

Sig. (2-tailed)

Average E

.996

53

53

Pearson Correlation

.000

Sig. (2-tailed)

.996

53

53

Table 17: Correlation- The parental mediation.

4.5 Chapter summery

This chapter discussed the findings of the survey and accordingly it was discussed the
characteristics of participants as the starting point to the analysis. Then the descriptive
27 | P a g e

analysis was carried out to determine the general view point of participants and the
hypotheses were tested appropriately. Finally the parametric analysis was used to identify
the statistically significance differences among various groups in the survey.

Chapter 05
5 Conclusion
In the course of surveying the research which is the awareness level of internet threats and safety
among children researchers tried to carryout a particular structure of the field. Followings were
made as the conclusions based on the analysis of relevant literature, the results of questionnaire
survey and the findings about the awareness on internet threats and safety among students of both
schools.
The study was carried out with view point of identifying the awareness level of children about
internet threats and safety methods in Sri Lanka. Though internet is providing many opportunities
for children, it has exposed the children to a greater risk due to limitation in awareness about threats
and safety. Though many researches have been carried out in this context, after reviewing

the literature it was notorious that majority of these studies have been conducted primarily
on Western economies. Therefore the study was designed to fill the existing gap in
literature and accordingly research objective was set out. The scope was limited to from the
grade nine to thirteen students in selected two schools due to the information accessibility.
The sample was collected using stratified sampling method in a way to minimize the
sampling error and information was gathered mainly using a questionnaire. Further
secondary data was also assisted in drawing an appropriate conclusion. The SPSS software
was used in analysing the gathered data through survey. The findings indicated that
nowadays almost all the students have internet access device and daily browse and most of
the students are spending approximately one hours browsing internet especially playing
online games. Further it was observed that there was no any relationship between parental
28 | P a g e

mediation and awareness level about internet threats and safety among children. However
the educational level and concern about threats protecting behaviour are highly affect to the
awareness level among children of internet threats and safety.
However it has to be noted that the research is subjected to certain limitations including
generalization of the findings among students in other provinces in Sri Lanka since the
sample was obtained only from the western province and Sabaragamuwa province.

References
Despo.,K.,Nkikleia.,E and Anastasia.,Z., (2015) Exploring parents and childrens
awareness on internet threats in relation to the internet safety..[Online] 8,(19). Available
from: www.emeraldinsight.com/1065-0741.htm.[Accessed 10th November 2015]

Computer literacy statistics-2014.Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka. Available

from: www.statistics.gov.lk [Accessed 10th November 2015]
Bleakley, A and Sarah,V. (2015) Monitoring, mediating, and modeling: parental influence
on adolescent computer and internet use in the United States. Journal of Children and
Media.[Online] 2,(1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2015.997103
[Accessed 02nd November 2015]

Niiken,P and Jansz,J. et.al. Parental mediation of young childrens internet use. [Online]
11,(5). Available from: www.sciencedirect.com [Accessed 03rd November 2015]
Satharasighe,

A.

(2014),

Highlights

on

computer

literacy,

www.informationstatistics.gov.lk. [Accessed 02nd November 2015]

29 | P a g e

Available

from:

Silva, W.D. (2014) Sri Lankan youth and their exposure to computer literacy Available
from: asljass.sljol.info/article/download/7127/5511/. [Accessed 05th
November 2015]
Simoes, A.J and Ponte, C. n.d. Asking parents about children's internet use: comparing
findings about parental mediation in Portugal and other European countries.[Online] 2,(11).
Available from: www.sciencedirect.com. [Accessed 02nd November 2015]
Subrahmanyam, K and Greenfield, P. (2008) Online communication and adolescent
Relationships. [Online] 18, (1). Available from: www.futureofchildren.org [Accessed 01st
November 2015]
Yousuf, F., Osman,N., Hassan,H and Teimoury, M. (2014) Parents influence on childrens
online usage. The International Conference on Communication and Media. . [Online] 10,
(8). Available from: www.sciencedirect.com. [Accessed 10th October 2015]
Sonia,L.,and Ellen,J.,(2010) Parental mediation and childrens internet use.Department of
media and communications. [Online] 19,(4). Available from: www.sciencedirect.com.
[Accessed 02nd November 2015]
Stacey.S., Elizabeth.D.,and Brian,S. (2004) The relationship between parental racial
attitudes and childrens implicit prejudice. Stanford University . [Online] 10,(8). Available
from: www.sciencedirect.com. [Accessed 10th October 2015]
Fotis.,L.,(2010) Online risks obstructing safe internet access for students. Technological
educational

institute

of

Mesolongia,

[online]

14(11).

Available

from:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm.[Accessed 10th November 2015]

Steve.,H., David.,C and David.,Y.,(2000) Awareness and challenges of Internet Security.

Management

and

computer

security

[Online]

3(19).

www.emeraldinsight.com/1065-071.htm.[Accessed 10th November 2015]

30 | P a g e

Available

from:

Karen.,E and Kathika.,S.,(2006) Childrenss experience on the internet.Institute for media

and information management,[Online]5(14). Available from: www.emeraldinsight.com/10340714.htm [Accessed 10th November 2015

Appendix
Questionnaire

Ref.No:

The objective of the survey is to identify the level of awareness of internet threats and
safety methods among children in Sri Lanka. Please kindly spare a few minutes to answer
the following questions. The information you provide is of great importance for this study
and will be used for academic purpose only. Thank you for your cooperation.
Part one Personal Information
a. Gender. (Please tick whichever applies)
Male

Female

b. Age Group
14-16 years

Above 16 years

c. Area you live

Within Colombo district

Out of Colombo district

d. Do you use internet? (Please tick, if No please stop the answering)

Yes
31 | P a g e

No

If yes, what is the place you mostly use internet, (Please tick only one place mostly
use)

Home
School
Internet cafe
Friends home
Library
Any other public place

e. How often do you use internet?

Daily

Twice a week

Weekly

Monthly

f. How long do you use internet per day?

Less than 1 hour

1 -3hours

3-7 hours
More than 10 hours

7 10 hours

g. Devise you use mostly to access the internet (Select orderly from 1 to 3)
Desktop/laptop
Smart phone
Tablet
h. Purpose of using internet (Select orderly from 1to 6)
32 | P a g e

Educational purposes
Entertainment
Playing games
Social networking
Online purchasing

i. The main threat you experienced by using internet

Viruses/Spam
Sexual risks
Hackers
Stealing personal information
Any other threat

j. Safety methods you are using against internet threats

Using Anti-Virus Programs
Using a firewall program
Having strong passwords
Being careful when reading emails
Having a backup
Any other safety method

Part two Awareness about internet threats and safety methods

To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?
1=Strongly Disagree

2=Disagree

3=Neither agree nor disagree

4=Agree

5=Strongly agree
1
33 | P a g e

A. Awareness/ opinion on internet threats and safety

a. That is a usual thing we all know about
b. I can defend the internet threats
c. I usually use safety methods against threats
d. I dont know anything about internet threats and
safety methods

B. Concern for threats protecting behaviour

a. I feel that I behave more cautiously when using the
internet.
b. I read the safety statement provided by the site.
c. I go to other web sites that dont ask for my personal
information.
d. I use a false name or false ID when using the internet.
e. Usually, I do nothing and leave the web site.

C. Internet Literacy Level

a. I feel that I have sufficient internet skills.
b. I feel that I know all threats what can be affected
when use the internet.
c. I feel that I know all the safety method which can be
used against the internet threats.
d. I feel that I know all ICT regulation related to internet
safety.
e. I think school is a better place to learn about internet
threats and safety methods
34 | P a g e

D. Friends Impact
a. Most of the friends are having internet access
facilities.
b. I used to access internet with my friends.
c. Most of the friends are using internet safety methods
against threats.

E. Parental Mediation
a. I tell my parents about the internet problems of me.
b. My parents help me to understand about my selfbetter about internet
c. My parents know all things about internet and give
knowledge me.
d. I need my parents supervision to control usage of
internet.
e. I know that my parents regularly observe my internet
usage.

Your opinion on the internet usage by the children in Sri Lanka

Thank you for your kind incorporation!

35 | P a g e