ABSTRACT

ORAY, RONALYN C.: LEVEL OF AWARENESS AND

CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED ON
ONLINE SAFETY OF SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TABACO CITY
DIVISION (Unpublished Master’s Thesis,
Daniel B. Peña Memorial College
Foundation, Inc., Graduate School, Tabaco
City, March 2019)

This study was an attempt to determine the level of awareness of Senior

High School students on online safety in Tabaco City Division. The findings of

this study would be the basis of case management of encountered challenges on

online safety. Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:1. What is

the profile of respondents as to: 1.a frequency of visiting the internet, 1.b.

purpose of using the internet, 1.c accessibility to internet, 1.d mode of internet

connection, 1. e means of internet connection and 1.f. sites frequently navigated;

2.What is the level of awareness of high school students on online safety in

terms of: Abuse - Preventive actions, Social media friendly attitude and

Cybercrimes?; 3. Is there a significant difference on the level of awareness on

online safety between Grade 11 and Grade 12 students?; 4. What are the

challenges they encountered on online safety? and; 5. What case management

may be proposed to address the challenges encountered?

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 The researcher employed both descriptive-comparative type of research

designs in order to further contribute knowledge to the nature of the proposed

study and achieve its main purpose. This could be beneficial to the Senior High

School students, teachers, guidance counselors, school heads, future

researchers and government agencies such as DepEd, DSWD and PNP. The

respondents of this study were six hundred eighty three (683) Senior High School

students of seven (7) public senior high schools in the mainland of Tabaco City

Division.

Based on the analysis of data, study revealed that the frequency of Senior

High School students’ visit in the internet is daily. Their purpose of using the

internet is to gather information. Internet is accessible to them. Their mode of

connection to the internet is via mobile data. Their means of internet connection

is via mobile phones. The sites that are frequently navigated are: Facebook,

Youtube, Google, Twitter, Others (Instagram), Yahoo, Skype And Viber.

Findings showed that Abusive Preventive Actions have Extremely Aware

descriptive rating as follows: I should not give my passwords even to my friends

(4.67), I should not give my personal information (name, address, school) to

anyone I met online (4.70), I should not meet up with my chatmate in person

(4.45), I should not pretend to be my idol at the internet (4.40) and I should be

vigilant about everything I read/saw in the internet (4.41). In general, the level of

awareness of the respondents on Abusive Preventive Action is Extremely Aware.

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 On Social Media friendly attitude, these statements garnered Extremely

Aware adjectival rating: I should not send my pictures to anyone I met online

(4.55), I should not respond to suggestive or malicious emails/online invitations

(4.31),I should not meet up with my chatmate in person (4.54), and I should not

hang around the site when I viewed nasty comments (4.40). The statement I

should not initiate conversations with my social media friends only garnered the

rating of 4.09 which is rated as Very Aware. In general, their conception of the

acceptable social media friendly attitude is Extremely Aware with the average

rating of 4.38. Information on cybercrimes showed that the respondents are

Extremely Aware of the following issues: Cyberbullying (4.33), Child Pornography

(4.50), Cyberstalking (4.37), Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (4.43), and

Child Online Trafficking (4.60). Only Online Voyeurism garnered the rating of

3.97 which is described as Very Aware. In general, senior high school students

are extremely aware of cybercrimes. This gained an average rating of 4.37.

There is no significant difference on online safety between Grade 11 and

Grade 12 students. It was also shown that there were twenty-seven (27) online

challenges that the Senior High School Students of Tabaco City Division

encountered which were ranked as follows: Hacked Accounts (20.80%),

Receiving Spam Messages(16.79%), Cyberbullying(10.28%), Fake

News(8.77%), Virus(8.27%), Posers (5.51%); Seeing Nude (4.51%); Having A

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Stalker(4.26%) Poor Internet Connection (4.01%), Fake Accounts(3.51%).Scam

and Strangers Asking for Personal Informationtied with 1.75%, Phishing

Sites(1.50%), Opened Unsecured Websites (1.4%), Online Breaching(0.75%),

Forgot Password(0.75%), Receiving Rude Comments(0.75%), Receiving

Requests to Send Pictures(0.75%), Unsecured Personal Information(0.50%).,

Online Abuse(0.50%)., Plagiarism(0.50%)., Receiving Malicious

Emails/Blogs(0.50%), Online Threat(0.50%), Being Blocked(.025%), Forgot to

Log Out(.025%), Picture Was Stolen(.025%)and Friends Asking to Like His/Her

Post(.025%).A case management scheme is suggested to address the

challenges encountered on online safety.

The researcher concluded that the Senior High School Students visit the

internet daily. They use the internet is to gather information. Internet is accessible

to them. Their mode of connection to is via mobile phones. Their means to

connect the internet is via mobile phones. The sites frequently navigated are:

Facebook, Youtube, Google, Twitter, Others (Instagram), Yahoo, Skype And

Viber.Senior High School students are Extremely Aware of their online safety in

terms of Abuse - Preventive actions, Social Media Friendly Attitude and

Cybercrimes.

There is no significant difference in the level of awareness between Grade

11 and Grade 12 students on online safety.The challenges encountered by the

respondents on online safety were: hacked accounts, receiving spam messages,

cyberbullying, fake news, virus, posers, having a stalker, poor internet

connection, fake accounts, scam, strangers asking for personal information,

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phishing sites, unsecured websites, online breaching, forgetting password,

receiving rude comments, receiving requests to send pictures, unsecured

personal information, online abuse, plagiarism, receiving malicious emails/blogs,

online threat, being blocked, forgot to log out, picture was stolen and friends

asking to like his/her post. A case management scheme is suggested to address

the challenges encountered on online safety.

The following recommendations were offered: a. The Senior High School

students should be monitored as to the frequency of using the internet, their

access, purpose, mode and means of connection and the sites visited; b. The

extreme level of awareness of senior High School Students on online safety

should be maintained, if not heightened further; c.The extreme level of

awareness of both the Grade 11 and Grade 12 students on online safety should

be maintained, if not heightened further; d. Senior High School students should

attend seminars relative to the online safety so they can process the challenges

they encountered online; e. Case management recommended in this study

should be followed to address the challenges encountered by the Senior High

School Students on online safety.

As an offshoot of this study, the following areas are recommended for

future researches: 1. Social Media: Its Effect to the Academic Performance of

Senior High School Students; 2. Veracity of the Effectiveness of Child Protection

Policy in Addressing Child Online Issues; 3. Level of Influence of Internet to the

Academic Performance of The Students and; 4. Malicious Sites Reported on

Cybercrimes and Its Case Disposition.

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