www.wvarmenia.am
Internet and
psychological
behavior of teens in
Armenia
Roman Harutyunyan, Child Protection
Expert
WV Armenia
www.wvarmenia.am
Overview
• Internet accessibility in Armenia
• Keep Children Safe on Line Project
• Psychological behavior of teens
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Internet accessibility in Armenia
Rapid spreading of Internet technologies in Armenia during
the part 3 years (Internet cafes available in each
neighbourhood, access to mobile, dial-up, wireless and
other types of Internet has become more affordable).
Since 2008 the monopoly power of internet provider was
eliminated
4 new providers entered the market between 2008-2011.
The number of internet users jumped drastically almost 10
times rating Armenia as a leader among CIS countries by
level of Internet accessibility
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Country Share of Internet users
1. Armenia 47.1%
2. Azerbaijan 44.1%
3. Belarus 46.3%
4. Russia 43.0%
5. Kyrgyzstan 39.3%,
6. Kazakhstan 34.1%,
7. Ukraine 33.9%
8. Moldova 30.9%
9. Uzbekistan 26.8%
10. Tajikistan 9.2%
11. Turkmenistan 1.6%
Internet users as share to total population
Source: The study
of international
organization
Internet World Stats
for 2011
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Source: The Wold Bank, www.data.worldbank.org
In Armenia, at the end of 2011, users of social network Facebook were 242,140.
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Purpose: To increase children’s awareness on how to
safely use the Internet, mobile phones and other modern
ICTs;
To educate children about their rights to privacy
To increase parents and teachers awareness about online
safety;
To provide all three groups with information
about what, how and where to report an
incident if exposed to any illegal activity
online.
Keep children safe on line project
www.wvarmenia.am
Main Activities
ToT and peers to peers trainings among children on
Internet safety, on-line communication and benefits of
informed usage of ICTs.
Awareness workshops with teachers and parents
Establishment of an on-line training for children in
education portal www.armedu.am
Creation of a child friendly website on on-line safety
issues www.safeinternet.am
Establishment of the proper complains mechanism via
hot-line: 08 006 1111 and on-line reporting system
http://www.safeinternet.am/voting.aspx
Improve cyber-crime legislation
peers
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Psychological behavior of teens
During the trainings the teachers and parents shared their
concerns on changed behaviour and perception of
teenagers and detected deepening discord between adult
and young generation. The psychological changes they
noticed in their children are
Passion and attraction to internet that brings to Internet
dependency;
Hidden interest to information on drugs use, abuse,
pornography, paedophilia and other similar aspects;
Signs of fear, aggression and other emotional stresses;
Sense of estrangement from the real world.
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Passion and attraction to internet that
brings to Internet dependency
• Hours spent in internet - both in front of
computer or via cell phones
• No communication with friends and relatives
• Role reversal with teaching computer
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Hidden interest to information on drugs use,
abuse, pornography, paedophilia and other
similar aspects
• Different advertisements and flashing invitations
in the Websites and social nets
• Major danger – teens can become targets of
pedophiles
• The anonymity of some social networking sites
makes it easy for unscrupulous people to target
young teens and engage them in harmful
conversations.
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Signs of fear, aggression and other
emotional stresses
• Many potential problems with social networking sites and
the teenagers that use them. – Sites used by Armenian
young generation- Odnoklasniki and Facebook
• Both are open and to all, which means that the teen
could be exposed to harassment, bullying or sexual
advances.
• It's rare for harassment to spill over into real-world
conflicts, but it can still be a cause of emotional distress
for teens.
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Sense of estrangement from the real
world
• Major amounts of time spent playing video
games, often suffused with violence,
appear to have the same negative effects
as too much time watching TV
• Many studies show that violent internet
information increase aggression and
hostility
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Do we need an on-line corner for
psychologist?
• We have opened a voting poll
http://www.safeinternet.am/voting.aspx
in our website
• Within a short period of time we received
125 responses with 116 or 93% voting for
the possibility
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Your support ad experience is
needed!!
• At what extend we are ready to prevent and
protect our children to appear in these situations?
and
• How skilled we are to support and empower them
to get over the difficulties in case they face them?
• These are the questions we are trying to find
responses in the frame of our project and also
are looking for experiences of other partners and
yours….
Thanks