The eSafety Commissioner has released a troubling new report revealing a vision of the post-pandemic world featuring a surge of online dangers for Australians already finding their relationship with the internet less than positive.
In her report, COVID-19 impacts on Australian adults’ online activities and attitudes, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says Australians face an “elevated incidence of online harms” as the pandemic settles “along with a dramatically increased reliance on the internet.”
Ms Inman Grant said that in the first few months of the pandemic, “four in 10 Australians had a negative experience online.”
She said her report was based on a survey of over 1,200 Australian adults who complained of repeated unwanted contact and unwelcome messages on the internet.
“What this report shows us is that during this extraordinary moment in history the internet has allowed Australians to work, learn and play in ways we probably didn’t think possible before this pandemic and it will continue to change the way we harness technology for the foreseeable future,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“But the data also confirms that while we were all staying home to stop the spread of COVID-19, a significant number of Australians were also having negative experiences online,” she said.
“This reinforces what we’ve been seeing during the first few months of this pandemic, with spikes in the numbers of people coming to us for help after being abused online or having intimate images shared without their consent.
“Even as many of us start to return to our workplaces and schools, these numbers aren’t dropping and it’s looking like this level of online harm could become our ‘new normal’.”
Ms Inman Grant said that despite the worrying data, most Australians viewed the internet as important or essential during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Australians’ increased use of the internet also looks set to become the new standard, with those surveyed saying they will continue to use the internet for key daily tasks,” she said.
She said that during the lockdown, Australians using the internet for one or more particular tasks had increased by 56 per cent.
The eSafety Commissioner’s 20-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
