The Finnish chapter of the global Save the Children organisation surveyed 4,106 children aged 11–17 in February-March 2025 about their experiences with sexual messaging and sexual abuse among peers, as well as adults.
In Finland, 20% of children and 33% of girls experienced sexual violence online. And most of it apparently comes from adults.
The survey found that one in three children had been contacted online by an adult or someone at least five years older, and of these, over half experienced sexual violence. According to the survey, messages from adults turn sexual in nature most often within an hour.
Didn't have to worry too much about that with a dial phone when I was a kid.
The internet has given rise to a "whole new world" of abuse vectors when it comes to child abuse, and it also has the added "benefits" of being able to make views and preferences more extreme, and connect like minds. If you want a little bit of a glimpse of the proliferation of child abuse material, there are various articles written by Gabriel Dance from the New Yor Times with a good overview here.
But what is happening is that the internet is radicalising the thoughts of everyone in some way, with more heading into the extremes, whilst many are accepting what would have been unacceptable behaviour a short time ago, as normal. In the privacy of their own home, with no one watching and no feeling of being judged, they have been able to surround themselves with and desensitize themselves to increasingly more extreme content. And then connect up with similar minds, who will share thoughts and experiences and accelerate the radicalisation.
This isn't only for child abuse though, as this happens with pretty much every preference that anyone has, whether it be mostly innocuous like Pokémon or the worst of the worst paedophilia behaviours. Hat is a strong word - but I fucking hate paedophiles.
Like all things, the abuse is on a spectrum, but one thing can be ascertained by the trendline, and that is that all kinds of online abuse are increasing. Because not only is it easier, it is also available twenty-four hours a day, and offers a high degree of anonymity. People don't have to "risk their face" in the same way as they had to earlier, whether that is to protect them from being physically hurt, or recognised for a crime.
With all the benefits that the internet brings society, it is also undeniably a cesspool in so many ways too. It gives unrestricted access to ramp up and amplify the worst of our behaviours, and gives us a safe space to radicalise ourselves through the content we consume. Like any tool, it can be used for good or ill, and unfortunately many are using it to become sicker in many ways, whether that is through a lowering of their skillset, or a raising of their desires to the point of extremisms.
And also unfortunately, self-regulation for most people isn't an adequate solution, because most people don't have the ability to self-regulate on their emotional states and their desires. People are far more impatient and also harbour far more entitlement to have their desires met, no matter who gets hurt in the process. People find all kinds of excuses to justify their behaviours, but there is no excuse to intentionally harm others, especially those who who are innocent, have done no wrong, and are too inexperienced or unable to fend for themselves.
The other unfortunate fact is that while education is key for kids to protect themselves, most parents do a dismal job of providing adequate oversight the education required. Parents rarely know best, they act on what they can deliver - and it is often not good enough in an environment where they too are part of the problem. They can try, but it takes more than a few words of "be careful" for children to actually understand and learn and practice the right kinds of behaviours to be protected.
There have always been sickos in this world, but over the last decades our society has shifted to create more sickos through on-demand culture. People who are hyper-focused on their feelings and who believe that they deserve to get what they want, when they want, from whomever they want. It is all about taking more to satisfy themselves, whether that be money, resources, or a child's innocence.
It would be nice if people were just better humans.
Unfortunately, change starts with each of us and most of us are getting worse.
Taraz
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I never understood what the draw of the pedophilia is. To me it was always repulsive and I was never really interested in the subject and never knew much about it until talking to my wife who knows a lot more than me about it. She corrected my assumptions about it and told me that it is not just a tiny fraction of a percentage of men that are into it like I have assumed. Your numbers seem to confirm that as well...
A few years ago I listened to a Sam Harris podcast with that journalist, and it is pretty bloody shocking. The numbers have exploded.
Here is a link:
https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/213-worst-epidemic
Not a wonderful topic, but an important one.
Have you watched the Netflix movie Unknown Number? My wife and I watched it the other day. Absolutely despicable. I won't ruin it for you, but it was horrible. Probably not in the way you think though. I'm planning on writing a post about it at some point, but it will be hard without spoiling it for people.
I haven't watched it, but it sounds like something my wife should watch. She is far too complacent with these things in my opinion, mostly because she avoids content that makes her feel uncomfortable.
It will make her angry. Like seething. We mainly watched it because the city it happened in is relatively close to where we live.
I will definitely put it on the list. She is normally seething angry at me, so it will be a pleasant change!
😀
There is a mixed view on this. I lived in big Indian city as well as small town of india. Though the internet is same everywhere, but the kids of big cities are more spoiled brats be it boy or girl. But when it comes to small town, I see a complete change of approach. They are not do spoiled and everyone looks each other or talk gracefully. There might be ome sicko exist, but even they think twice before approaching any small town girl. The big cities the kids are opening up like crazy with anyone.
I have heard a lot of disturbing stories of gang rapes coming out of India and not much being done about it. Is that the case?
Mostly from the big cities...and we never know when the situation would turns towards the small cities. ... but after living in both cities, I see small cities are more civilized and safe for girls...
It is really sad to see this happening over and over again. The internet has made life easier, but it has also opened doors for terrible things like this. I think most of the problems emanated from the fact that the internet doesn't have more regulation to distinguish between a child and an adult.
It hurts to know that so many children are facing abuse online, especially from adults who should be protecting them but this problem doesn't lie with the 'adult' alone, kids who are not of aged aren't suppose to be expose to what many of them are exposed to these days. And everything is still boiled down to the parent and the society will live in today.
I feel like a lot of parents don’t really understand how dangerous the online space can be, and just telling kids to “be careful” isn’t enough. We all need to do more: teach kids, set boundaries, and also hold people accountable for their actions.
It’s heartbreaking that some people use technology to hurt others, especially innocent children. I just wish more people would choose to be better humans and be responsible.
This is going to happen more and more. For better and worse.
They are just as blind as the kids. More so in some cases.
I completly agree with your above sentence. It is unfortunate that many governments have not taken legal action against the misuse of the Internet by the younger generation. Child abuse is more prevalent now than ever before due to the increased use of the Internet and the lack of standards for Internet use. Children born from inexperienced, early marriages are also more likely to be subjected to child abuse. It is tragic that it occurs within one's own family structure.
The younger generation aren't the ones misusing it first though, it is the older generations :D
The internet just makes it too easy for predators to reach kids. Society really needs better education and accountability to protect the most vulnerable like these kids. Social Media and the Internet will inevitably get bigger so doing something about this now is necessary
Do you have kids?
No, but my brothers have forced me to be their mother 😂
The existence of the internet have brought both the good and bad side of it but the negative part of the internet have affected a lot of people including children. In this era we are, I think there should be be restriction of the usage of internet from children as this is affecting them negatively.
Unfortunately, parents don't want that restriction, because it is easier to have kids online.
In my diary of life, it's the worst effect of the internet which we see commonly nowadays, i also heard many cases like that and don't know why children do such a thing which can totally harm them..... You said you fucking hate paedophiles and I also have the same feeling and sometimes i really feel sorry for those who are caught in all these issues
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This is the true dystopia, between technology defeating its creator, man, in the corollary transhumanism of the 20th, and 22nd century and the nihilism of this chaotic and changing 21st century, where not everything is reasoned, although sometimes new beginnings come disguised as pain and bad people like these pedophiles that swarm everywhere.
Yea.. there's a special place in hell for peds.. but ye, also parents do jack to educate/police their kids.. :(
This very comfort gives people the freedom to commit any crime they choose. The comfort of invisibility, anonymity, and anonymity makes it easier for criminals to commit crimes. The virtual world has a dangerous dimension in this respect. It's crucial for parents to educate their children on this issue. I'd argue that deterrent punishments should be increased. But who can punish someone in Country A if they exploit someone in Country B?
A reality that many people in various latitudes suffer...
Specifically in Finland, I didn't expect those statistics.
That's one of the main issues that I see. For one, it's not done with good words. Nobody ever didn't get into a car crash because mom said "drive carefully". The first step would be to create such a close relationship with my child that she trusts me with her feelings, because a lot of times it starts with "feeling weird" but being manipulated into not giving into that instinct. That goes further into trusting the gut, the instinct - when something is weird, better have it checked.
But to feel weird, there needs to be a level of experience, and that has to come from somewhere - not from direct experience with the action, but maybe through education. Having the theoretical knowledge, building from small things that feel weird. Again, if the relationship is close enough, she will tell me when there was a violation of her personal space, even if that was just another child getting too close, or saying things that don't seem right. It doesn't have to contain sexual ambiguity or something like that, but just be a anchor to talk about personal space, and based on that validating the feeling of "weird".
That's more or less how far I have come with that, until now. If you have more thoughts or ideas or links to tips about that, I'd be grateful.