Children are increasingly suffering from behavioural issues due to exposure to online pornography from as young as six-years-old, according to a cyber-security expert.

Aoife Noone visits schools to educate children on how to be safe online with the Think Smart Cyber Safety and Mindset Programme.

She told Lunchtime Live that she has had primary school children ask her for help removing inappropriate content from their social media feeds.

“I suppose I connect with them when I’m doing the programme and then they come up and they say, ‘Yeah, I saw inappropriate things on Snapchat and how do I get that off?’” she said.

“[They’ll say] ‘I even told my parents and they try to help me, but it keeps coming up and I don’t want to see it’.

“So, in fairness, even the kids themselves will tell me about inappropriate things that’s coming up on their social media and on YouTube and various platforms.”

A child looks at a phone. Image: Westend61 GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

Ms Noone said the reality is that once children have any type of smart device, they will be able to access all sorts of online content.

“There's a lot of kids that may be in disadvantaged areas, and I know from talking to Deis schools that the role model may not have the awareness there of the devices that they’ve been handed out or they’re not been locked down,” she said.

“We’re running talks here now in Galway to raise this awareness faster, and we have a detective from the Garda National Crime Bureau that’s working in the area of child exploitation.

“He explains this to the parents and they’re absolutely shocked at every talk.”

Correlation between porn and violence

The Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute said in a 2024 report that there is a direct correlation between the exposure to porn and an increase in violence against women and young girls.

According to Ms Noone, children are curious, and once this type of content is accessible to them they will engage with it.

“We know that from the CyberSafeKids report that 82% of kids between eight and 12 have social media accounts; even younger than that now we know,” she said.

“If they’re on these platforms – and 35% of them have unrestricted access online – of course they’re going to see this content; the porn will actually find them.

“Even one child said to me, and she was in third class, that, ‘I was watching YouTube and I saw a woman having a baby and I didn’t want to see that’, and the teachers in the room were horrified.

“It’s like, again, the content that’s been pushed to them, and then if they click on it – kids are curious, they’re going to click on it – and so they’re going to go on it.”

Ms Noone said that since children are not yet old enough to make sense of what they are seeing, this exposure can lead to behavioural issues down the line.

Main image: Children play mobile phone Gregory Wrona / Alamy Stock Photo