A/HRC/28/55 59. For example, ICTs have facilitated the production, distribution and possession of child abuse images and materials. Between 1997 and 2006, the number of such images on the Internet increased by 1,500 per cent.15 The children depicted are increasingly young: more than 80 per cent are 10 or under, and even toddlers are targeted.16 60. Online risks encountered by children may take place in many contexts and be expressed in different ways, including violent content, harmful material, child abuse images, online grooming, cyberbullying, self-exposure, obsessive online behaviour or excessive use of the Internet. 61. However similar to any other form of violence, online abuse is not inevitable. It can be prevented and addressed effectively. As children often stress, technology is not bad, it depends on the use one makes of it. 62. Online safety and a sense of online responsibility are becoming increasingly important for young people. As those participating in the thematic report stressed, “We are a click away from producing positive situations and avoiding bad ones … The way in which we connect using technologies is a personal choice, and we undertake to do this without causing harm to others”.17 B. Factors associated with online violence against children 63. Understanding the way children embrace ICTs is key to the development of strategies to maximize opportunities and minimize risks of violence against children. A number of important studies show that factors such as age, gender, education, geography, socioeconomic background and vulnerability influence the way children engage with ICTs, benefit from their potential and are more easily exposed to potential risks. Age and gender 64. Age has a significant influence on how children operate online. Children are beginning to interact with ICTs and use the Internet at an increasingly young age. The relative simplicity of mobile devices, such as touchscreen tablets and smartphones, is making digital entertainment and Internet content available and easily used by children, including in their very early years. At the same time, younger children may be particularly vulnerable as they lack appropriate technical expertise or ability to identify risks. 65. According to the EU Kids Online initiative,18 in Europe there has been a substantial increase in Internet use by children under the age of 9. Video-sharing sites are one of the first sites they visit and are popular, as are playing games, searching for information, doing homework and socializing with friends. 66. Younger children are particularly concerned about risks related to the online content they may encounter. As they get older, they become more concerned by contact and conduct risks linked to the use of social networking sites.19 Adolescents may face unusually 15 16 17 18 19 See E/CN.15/2014/CRP.1, p. 17. Available from www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CCPCJ/CCPCJ_Sessions/CCPCJ_23/E-CN15-2014CRP1_E.pdf. Ibid., p. 26. “Releasing children’s potential and minimizing risks”, p. iii. Donell Holloway, Leila Green and Sonia Livingstone, Zero to eight. Young children and their internet use (London, London School of Economics and Political Science: EU Kids Online, 2013), p. 4. “Releasing children’s potential and minimizing risks”, p. 37. 11