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Parents Clueless About What Kids Are Really Doing Online
By Christina Quick | June 5, 2008
Think you know what your kids are doing online? Think again.
According to a Harris Interactive Poll conducted for Symantec, maker of Norton security software, U.S. parents are clueless about how much time their kids are spending in cyberspace and what they’re doing there.
In a poll of parents with children between the ages of 8 and 17, respondents estimated their kids spend an average of two hours a month on the Internet. However, the kids confessed to 20 hours of monthly computer screen time — 10 times more than their parents thought!
Worse, 41 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds said their parents have no idea what they’re looking at on the Internet.
Here’s what the poll shows they’re really doing online:
• Social networking. More than three-quarters of teens visit social networking sites, compared to 47 percent of their parents.
• Meeting new people. A third of all kids polled and half the teens say they’ve made friends online. One in three rank cyber friendships as equal to or better than offline relationships.
• Being approached by strangers. Among all the children polled, 16 percent had been approached by a stranger online. Their parents guessed the number to be around 6 percent.
• Getting squeezed for personal info. About 4 in 10 teens have received an online request for personal information.
• Shopping. More than one in three children said they were “very confident” or “confident” shopping on the Internet.
This clearly shows closer monitoring of Internet activity is needed. Experts say providing Internet access in a child’s bedroom is a bad idea. Instead, they recommend placing the computer in a shared family area and limiting the amount of time kids spend online. It’s also a good idea to install software that blocks pornography and other inappropriate content. And teach youngsters not to disclose personal information or strike up conversations with strangers on the Internet.
For more information about Internet safety, visit NetSmartz.org, a Web site sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Topics: Internet |
June 5th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Another good site is http://www.bsafehome.com/
June 12th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I agree that monitoring is so needed in households today. Filtering is a great tool, but it’s not the only kind of software out there. Have you ever heard of accountability software? Accountability software is specifically for adults who want to guard where they go online without any blocking or filtering. Combined with filtering, it’s a great Internet safety solution for the whole family. If you want more info about it check out my post “Is Filtering All There Is?” (http://www.covenanteyes.com/blog/2008/06/12/is-filtering-all-there-is-introducing-accountability-software/)