Dennis Menace is finally going to get his first mobile phone…
After gleefully receiving his new device from a phone store, he is shown getting up to the kind of shenanigans and mischief Beano readers have come to expect.
Prank calls, uploading a video of his cousin Minnie the Minx without her consent and downloading age inappropriate apps are among his antics. But it emerges he may not be clued up on the online dangers he could face.
The special edition of the comic – a collaboration between the Beano and EE – has been launched after research found many parents with children aged eight to 16 found many fear their kids don’t know how to protect themselves from online dangers.
Sharing their location with strangers, being cyber-bullied and inadvertently sharing personal details that could lead to fraud are all things parents think their children might do without realising the consequences. And while 46 per cent of mums and dads polled try to educate their offspring as much as possible, a quarter are either unsure or definitely don’t know enough about online safety either.
Just 35 per cent of parents asked check their child’s phone on a weekly basis to ensure they are being safe online. While 57 per cent of parents who took part admitted they avoid looking at their child’s social media profiles because they’re worried about what they’re getting up to.
Of those who took part in the survey by OnePoll, more than half (52 per cent) don’t think they would be able to survive the online world as a child of today. To address this, EE have created the ‘PhoneSmart Licence’ – an online course educating children from all mobile network providers on how to stay safe and be kind online.
It was created in partnership with experts from Internet Matters with the aim of giving parents ‘additional peace of mind as their children enter the online world.’
