Here’s what our kids are doing online
The Center for Cyber Safety and Education released a “Children’s Internet Usage Study” in 2016 that reported on the internet behavior of 4th- to 8th-grade children in the United States. And its findings were shocking. (Or not, if you haven’t been in a coma these past decades.)
It turns out that either children aren’t listening to our warnings about not talking to strangers, or us parents aren’t emphasizing this risk to our kids, because guess what? Our kids are talking to strangers. There’s no statistically significant difference between boys and girls, either. Both are doing it. And in some cases, they’re even arranging to meet up with these strangers in the real world.
Have a look at these numbers…
Here’s what else our kids are doing online
Remember the good ol’ days when kids egged neighbors’ houses, or torched ants with magnifying glasses? Well, according to the “Children’s Internet Usage Study,” 4th to 8th graders have graduated to doing all-new things us parents wouldn’t approve of:
- 29% are using the internet in ways their parents won’t approve
- 21% visit sites where they can chat with strangers
- 17% are visiting sites with sexual photos or adult videos
- 11% are visiting sites with instructions for cheating on schoolwork
- 4% are visiting gambling sites (little Timmy can count cards??)
How are kids getting online? Pretty easily
According to the “Children’s Internet Usage Study” above, 70% of kids in grades 4-8 have a cellphone, 64% have a tablet, and 48% have a computer in their bedroom. So our tiny humans have quite a few opportunities to go online without adult supervision.
Our own survey reveals that we aren’t talking to our kids
In AVG’s recent global survey of 9,485 parents and guardians, we found that only 43% of parents/guardians talk to their children on a regular basis about their kids’ online behavior. So, despite the increasingly digital lifestyle we’re living, it seems that internet safety is still not a regular topic of conversation for families. Shame on us!
About our study: We conducted our online survey in the second half of 2018. Respondents had at least one child under the age of 18 living in their household. I’ve rounded the figures below to the nearest percentage to make life easier for you readers (and our graphic designer), so some of the results won’t total 100% exactly.
Here’s what we asked, and what parents answered:
“Do you talk to your child(ren) about what they share or do online?”
Here’s what Jas Dhaliwal, Consumer Security Expert at AVG, had to say about this one:
“In order for the internet to be a safer place, adults and children need to be able to discuss what is appropriate online behavior and what to do if a child sees or becomes engaged with an activity that makes them uncomfortable. Having open and honest conversations are one of the best defenses against online predators, inappropriate content and cyberbullying. Until a child reaches an age where both the parents and the child feel they are mature enough to make decisions pertaining to online activities independently, such conversations are vital.”
In other words, skip the birds-and-bees convo and talk to your kids about how to stay safe online.
Resources:https://www.avg.com/en/signal/how-to-keep-your-children-safe-online
Comment: This article talks about what children nowadays are doing online. In addition, this article provided the number of technology ownerships of children from the 4th grade to 8th grade. I think these numbers can help our team to understand how easy it is for a kid to get online and what are they are doing on the internet.
