As a mum of a 13-year-boy, this subject really hits home.
New research has revealed that, on average, boys aged 11-14 are exposed to harmful content within 30 minutes of being online, and 10% are seeing it in as little as 60 seconds.
The campaign by Vodafone says that AI algorithms are pushing content promoting misogyny or violence to boys following innocent and unrelated searches.
Shockingly, 42% of parents have heard their sons make inappropriate comments because of what they’ve seen online, with 32% discussing topics that are sexual, 27% negatively talking about their own body image and 22% degrading women and girls.
The research looked at the experiences of 1,000 parents, boys aged 11-14 and over 4,000 teachers on the effect of these algorithms.
These are sad and worrying stats, and it really feels like society is going backwards in terms of equality and showing respect to women.
Even more alarming are the study’s findings that boys are seeing this unsolicited material when innocently searching for fitness or gaming content, and the algorithms then show more of the same content, say Vodafone.
It’s not surprising that watching such content is affecting boys’ mental health. Two-thirds report feeling worried, sad or scared due to watching harmful content. Fortunately, 62% of these boys have spoken to their parents about the negative content they’ve seen.
The study says many teachers have reported seeing a rise in sexist language in the classroom over the last 12 months with this behaviour negatively impacting female students.
So, what can be done?
Vodafone and Global Action Plan are calling for ‘safety by design’ to be prioritised by regulators as they implement the newly passed Online Safety Act.
Safety by design requires tech platforms to ensure users are kept safe from harmful content by building safety into the design of their products and services. Parents can also address the issue at home, which we discuss below.
HELLO! spoke to Clinical Psychologist Dr Elly Hanson about the increase of misogyny on social media and the impact it’s having on our teenage boys.
Talking about misogyny on social media apps, Elly explains that it's not always one video that’s the problem, but a pattern of clips that altogether promote the mindset.
She says: "I did some focus groups with some teenage boys that were so insightful, going through their social media feeds with them.
"A particular theme that I was coming across was this theme of girls and women as gold diggers. So, you'd have a video which shows a guy trying to chat up a girl, she's uninterested in him and then she discovers that he's actually very rich and she totally changes her tune, she's all over him and he's then keeping her at arm's length.
"If you just took that video by itself, TikTok for example, wouldn't be able to say, ‘It violates our policies, we're banning it by itself - it's just showing a story, just showing a particular woman and her particular reaction.'
"But when you're getting tons of that, which boys are, as we can see from these stats, that is shaping how they see girls or women. The message from those videos is: ‘Women and girls are a bit of a different species; you start from a position of distrust where you don't know their intentions, they're just trying to use you, they're after your money.’
"An example is a boy saying if he ever got married, he’d want a prenup. You couldn’t say, ‘Oh he’s now a misogynist’ but it's those kinds of views that start to see girls and women as inherently untrustworthy - they're being ‘othered’."
How teen boys’ misogynistic views are affecting teen girls
Elly says: "We found 85% of teachers think that online content is increasing boys’ misogynistic language and behaviour towards girls, and 81% think that this is affecting girls' ability to engage with their studies.
"The thing is that misogynistic content is interacting with the sexually objectifying content, so boys are being shaped into seeing girls as kind of half human. They’re objects of sexual desire but ‘keep them at arm’s length’. So they are not being given the opportunity to shape their sexuality around intimacy and connection.
"Even boys’ abilities to create meaningful friendships with girls are being hampered here as well, and it's something that makes me so sad because I think that's such a joyful part of adolescence.
"There's a segregation that is going on, and in terms of how girls are being affected, they're missing out on those relationships with boys, and girls’ self-esteem is being damaged by all of this, that they are being seen in this hostile way by boys.”
"I'm not saying that there aren't still boy girl friendships out there - this is just making all of that harder."
What can parents do?
"On the one hand, we don’t have as much power as we would want, and we are in a difficult position because there's a natural forging of independence as a teenager where you start to become suspicious of your parents' viewpoint and want to differentiate yourself from what the parents think.
"What it means is that our views may be critiqued or not taken on board as quickly as we might want them to be, so we do have a challenge here.
"That's why I say whatever we do as parents, let's sign the petition to push for safety by design. We really need this as soon as possible; we need to stop these engagement-driven algorithms.
"Then let's try and harness our sons’ natural suspicion and orientate it to the real forces at play, which are not girls or women, they're the algorithms, they're the influencers.
"I suggest having those conversations about the business model of social media and explaining that they are showing you content that's not necessarily what you want to see, but it's trying to emotionally trigger you to keep you on that platform for longer. So, it's going to send you clips that will make you feel suspicious, shocked or insecure.
"It's going to send you that stuff because that's what keeps you on for longer; it's not necessarily because it's true or because loads of other people are thinking it."
Vodafone has released a film, titled ‘The Rise of The Aggro-rithm’, to highlight how AI algorithms are targeting Britain’s teen and tween boys, turning harmless search into harmful content.
How to help our teens
Elly suggests: "One thing I would say is to talk to your child's school and find out what they are doing in PSHE about this. Do they critique harmful gender norms and promote positive ones?
"In terms of talking to our sons about misogynistic viewpoints, the approach I would take is to not always go necessarily massively head-to-head - find some points that you can agree on and then shift it from there.
"One of the things that we can agree on is that life is often quite hard for boys and men, and that's what those influencers are playing on. In society now, they may feel like, ‘What’s their place? What does positive masculinity look like?’
"Fortunately, there are many men online who are positive role models, who are trying to speak about a different version of masculinity. This masculinity is about strength, helping the collective good and helping other people, being responsible, and that strength involves acknowledging your vulnerability and expressing your own feelings. Let’s talk to our sons about these men."
Visit www.vodafone.co.uk/digitalparenting for Vodafone’s toolkit, created in conjunction with NSPCC, which supports parents in having online safety conversations with their children.