Advances in technology are fuelling the fears of many parents about the internet activities of their children. Moms and dads are no longer relying on browser filters to regulate online activity, but are now joining their children on social media sites instead, revealed a survey.
According to the study conducted under the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over 80 per cent of parents with children aged 12 to 17 are apprehensive about online tracking or info collection based on web activity, while 72 per cent are worried that their kids are interacting online with strangers.
Aside from that, parents are also concerned about the ill effects of such activities on their children’s education and employment prospects. They also doubt whether their kids can properly manage their reputation on the web.
Consequently, parents are mastering the use of social media sites to tackle these concerns and this is one of the ways they monitor the online activities of their kids.
In addition, over 40 per cent of parents googled their kid’s name to find out what they have posted, while 50 per cent of the respondents also utilised parental controls or other means of monitoring, filtering and blocking the internet activities of their children. This percentage remained nearly unchanged since 2011, noted the report
However, the percentage of parents who utilise social media sites increased to 66 per cent, compared to last year’s 58 per cent. Furthermore, about 33 per cent of the respondents have aided their children in tweaking their privacy settings, and nearly half the parents log in to social media sites to interact with their kids.
