This report by Internet Matters provides insight into 6,500+ UK children with some form of vulnerability, how the online world has become their lifeline. Some are to up to seven times more likely to meet particular dangers over the internet than their non-vulnerable peers.
It showed they face many and varied types of online risks. While their vulnerabilities make them more likely to experience risk than non-vulnerable teens, being without digital access can also be problematic. If they are harmed and become scared of going online, or have their device taken away, they lose opportunities to connect and develop socially, interacting with others without any label of vulnerability.
It also found that those with eating disorders are most at risk, in a variety of ways, with almost a third (31%) having seen content about suicide ‘often’ in contrast to 4% of young people without vulnerabilities. Those with eating disorders were also most likely to say, ‘someone online tried to persuade me into sexual activity I did not want’ with 43% having ever experienced this, of whom 23% said it happened ‘often’, compared to 3% of their peers without vulnerabilities.
Teens with eating disorders were seven times more likely to say they have ‘often’ had a nude image shared in revenge by a former partner after a breakup (15% versus 2% for non-vulnerable teens).
This group were also the most likely to be cyberbullied among all the vulnerable groups (48%) and reported many signs of compulsion, with almost half (46%) becoming ‘irritated and anxious’ without their phone. This was in contrast to 15% of non-vulnerable teens.