How Teens are Keeping Parents in the Dark
A European survey commissioned by McAfee has revealed an alarming disconnect between what teens are getting up to online, and what parents are aware of.
Many UK teens are accessing inappropriate content online, despite two thirds of teenagers saying they felt trusted by their parents to do what’s right when surfing the web.
Almost a third of UK parents live under the assumption that their teen tells them everything they do on the internet, and 59 per cent of parents trust their teen to not access inappropriate content online.
But parents cannot give up - they must challenge themselves to become familiar with the complexities of the online universe and educate themselves about the various threats that await their teens...
However, this disconnect is leading to many teens undertaking questionable, dangerous and even illegal activity with 30 per cent of teens admitting that they have visited websites their parents would disapprove of, 31 per cent of teens intentionally viewed a video of something they knew their parents wouldn’t approve of, a quarter of teens are intentionally searching for nude images or pornography online – with over half viewing these images up to a few times a month – the highest in Europe, while 19 per cent of teens admitted to purchasing pirated music online.
Furthermore, six per cent, shockingly, said they had purchased alcohol or drugs over the internet and 13 per cent of teens said they had actually met up with someone they had met online.
Raj Samani, EMEA CTO at McAfee, said: “We believe the data will come as quite a shock to some parents, and we hope it will encourage them to take immediate action to protect their children. It is clear that a huge gap exists between what teens are doing online, and what parents are aware of. Parents must take an active role to ensure their teens are practicing safe online behaviour.”
Half of parents expressed confidence they know how to find out what their child was doing online, however only one fifth of teens said they didn’t know how to hide their behaviour from their parents.
The European research discovered a majority of teens are taking a number of steps to hide their online behaviour including minimising the browser when a parent enters the room, clearing their browser history, hiding or deleting inappropriate video content and even creating a private email address unknown to their parents.
Parental monitoring and involvement
Only 12 per cent of British parents claimed to have had a conversation with their teen about being safe online, but, more worryingly, 29 per cent have done nothing to monitor their teen’s online behaviour at all (compared to a European average of 17.6 per cent). Of the parents that have put controls in place; less than a third have set controls on their teen’s mobile device, 12 per cent know their teen’s mobile device password and made their teen give them the password to their email or social media account, however only three per cent actually set parental controls on their home computer.
Just over one in five parents admit that their teen is more tech-savvy than them and they’ll never be able to keep up with their online behaviours. Highlighting this point is the fact that 11 per cent of teens admitted to disabling parental controls on their devices.
Disconnect around online dangers
Despite the much-publicised dangers associated with data and identity theft, many teens aren’t concerned about posting personal details online. More worryingly still, most parents also don’t realise the dangerous implications of this information being placed online for all to see.
The research revealed that 29 per cent of teens are unconcerned about posting their email address online, with nearly a quarter of parents seeing no harm in the action. Meanwhile, 36 per cent of teens and 29 per cent of parents said they were unconcerned about posting IM usernames online.
Four in ten teens said they were unconcerned about posting a photo of themselves online and 36 per cent said they saw no harm in posting up a description of what they looked like, whilst nearly one in five teens thought posting intimate personal details of themselves wasn’t a risk, with even more parents unconcerned about the action.
Most disturbingly, 16 per cent of teens wouldn’t think twice about posting details of a place and time they were meeting someone and 17 per cent of adults were unworried with this action.
The fix
Raj added: “Having grown up in the online world, teens are often more online savvy than their parents, making it difficult for parents to provide the necessary guidance, and therefore, reinforcing teens’ online vulnerability.
“But parents cannot give up – they must challenge themselves to become familiar with the complexities of the online universe and educate themselves about the various threats that await their teens online,” he advises.
Parents should have frequent one-to-one conversations with teens to get through to them about the choices they’re making online and the risks and consequences of their actions. Parents must also be diligent about setting up parental controls, which includes keeping a watchful eye to know if / when teens discover ways around them. And, parents should be upfront with teens about monitors and controls implemented on their internet devices, as many teens would think twice about their online activities if they knew parents were watching
McAfee recently announced the launch of its Online Safety for Kids programme in the UK, which aims to help children understand how to stay safe online.
The programme is made up of two projects designed to raise awareness of the potential risks and share knowledge about how to stay safe online. The first is an initiative where McAfee staff can volunteer to teach online safety courses at schools in the communities where employees live and work. This is supported by an online portal where schools, parents and kids can find helpful tips and information on safely navigating cyberspace.