SALT LAKE CITY — According to a new study by Cloudwards, an online security software company, Utah leads the nation in protecting kids online.
The company says its study is about raising awareness about issues concerning child safety while online and encouraging positive change within families.
In the study, Utah ranked number one on kids' online safety, driven largely by the state's online safety legislation. But the study's authors add that the Beehive State also offers strong mental health support and moderate levels of online safety crimes and threats.
Hawaii came in second in the study dragged down by its mental health support. However, the state did rank better than Utah in the study on crimes and threats, and cyberbullying.
Mental health support was one area where Utah ranked 7th in the study. The authors claim that this is based on the availability of mental health professionals. They cite the state as having 34.45 clinical and counseling psychologists and 20.24 child and adolescent therapists per 100,000 residents.
In terms of online safety threats, Utah ranked 21st. In 2023, the FBI received 18 complaints related to crimes against children, 67 for harassment and stalking, and 16 for threats of violence.
According to the study, one area for improvement in Utah was cyberbullying. The study says that 45% of children in the Beehive State reported being cyberbullied and 5% were identified as cyberbullies. Another 16.5% of high school students also reported experiences with electronic bullying. Because of those factors, the study ranked Utah as the 29th nationally.
The top five were rounded out by New Jersey, North Dakota, and Connecticut.
California and Oregon were at the bottom of the ranking with California scoring low on crimes and threats and Oregon coming in last in cyberbullying.
In 2023, Utah passed new laws to restrict youth access to social media. That would have made it restricted that anyone who couldn't prove they were over 18 years of age would need to get parental permission to use social media applications. However, the law has faced a long series of lawsuits and appeals about the laws.
