The IAB made its call at the start of its three week awareness campaign called ‘Get With IT!’ The campaign’s aim is to make parents aware of how new media works and encourage them to engage with, and use, new technologies with their children. This will help keep children safe when they are using technologies from digital games, mobile phones to the computer.

The campaign was developed in response to IAB research which found that while the majority of parents (83%) discuss the potential dangers of using the Internet with their child, this declines as children reach 13-14.

However the pace at which children adopt new technologies steadily increases between the ages of 10-14.Research has also found that only 13% of parents would consider their child’s mobile phone to be a high-risk technology although the new generation of mobile phones can give internet access and allow video messaging.

The campaign includes the publication of a free booklet, a parents’ guide to new media, which contains all the information parents need. It will be supported by an intensive nationwide radio advertising campaign with the voice of RTE sport’s personality and dad, Des Cahill, which runs across national and local radio from September 12th. The radio campaign has two different adverts featuring humorous family situations with children and parents handling new media tools and jargon

“The ‘Get With IT!’ booklet gives details on all new media technologies, including Digital TV, the Internet, mobile phones and interactive game consoles. It gives advice on how to recognize if a child is using new media technologies in a potentially dangerous way and what steps a parent can take to prevent or stop this.