This story was published in The New Daily on March 24.
Chinese children were at risk of being groomed and faced more cyberbullying after schools shut down, a report on the dangers associated with social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic has found.
As an increasing number of Australian parents take their children out of school over COVID-19 fears, children are inevitably going to spend a lot more time at home in front of screens in coming months.
Although it's much safer for children to be contained at home or their backyard rather than be exposed to strangers who might carry the virus, being away from a physical classroom brings with it another set of risks.
That includes those that stem from unsupervised access to the internet.
And there are valuable lessons we can learn from China, where the virus emerged and about 58 million people have been placed under unprecedented restrictions.
