Online Violence: Listening to Children's Online Experiences

Abstract

The Internet imprints a great complexity to new and old risks as threats become more available in children’s lives. Criminals have greater access to the victims and Internet crimes are favoured by ambiguities in the law. This chapter presents preliminary data from an on-going doctoral investigation about the upsetting phenomenon of violence perpetrated by, with, and among school-aged children using online services and devices. To better understand the subjectivity, delicacy, and complexity of matters and meanings that participants bring to their online experiences, the authors follow a qualitative approach, based on a structured and interpretive analysis. They work with a group of children aged between 6 and 15 years old. With this chapter, the authors intend to contribute to a greater understanding and reflection about this complex problem and its impact in order to increase awareness about how children behave online and in what way it may influence their well-being