Privacy, Security & Virus Information

We’re Not Protecting Our Children

Most parents are not concerned about their children’s surfing habits, or so recent research has suggested.

MSN questioned 20,000 European teenagers and found that 51% do not have any parental control on their access to the web. Disturbingly, it also discovered that some 30% of those teenagers questioned had experienced bullying of some kind when surfing the web.

So, when you think that nearly one third of children admit to being bullied via the internet, it’s odd that parents do not seem that concerned.

The research coincided with the EU’s Safer Internet Day which has been marked with nearly 17 of the main social websites saying they will do more to protect their younger users. Those signing up to the initiative are Arto, Bebo, Daily Motion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klasa.pl/, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel Yahoo! and Europe Zap.lu.

This is the sixth Safer Internet Day, having first started in 2004, and one of the key moves to help teenagers stay free of internet bullying is the display of a ‘Report Abuse’ button. Furthermore, those profiles of users under 18 will be switched, by default, to private and the same profiles will not be able to be searched by others. Also, users considered too young will be discouraged from joining in the first place. Over 50 nations took part and much work takes place in schools throughout Europe, trying to educate school children about online dangers. These range from straightforward cyber-bullying, to the extremes of children being groomed by older users.

Some industry observers see this step from the social sites as an admission that for some time they looked the other way when it comes to online bullying. With more people becoming aware of the problem, the social sites, which have enjoyed phenomenal success, are almost being forced to confront the problem and take steps to actively protect their users.

Another research report concerning parental reactions to the internet, this time from EU Kids Online project at the London School of Economics, has discovered that when it comes to the way parents monitor their children’s use of the net, there were quite distinct differences.

Ironically, although parents in the U.K came top in the research findings when it came to talking to their children about their online practices (87%) and using filtering software (around 77%), it is the parents of French (88%), Portuguese (84%) and Greek (81%) children that were most concerned with their children’s online habits. And it wasn’t only bullying that concerned them.

These parents also considered pornographic and violent images as a big a worry as bullying and grooming.

And the research also showed that those parents who were most concerned about their children’s surfing habits took positive steps when it came to making a change. Such things as warning their children against the most dangerous practices, taking an interest in what their kids are doing online and, most importantly, making sure that computer use is downstairs in the family area, rather than their individual bedrooms, all play their part.

So for all those parents out there, it’s up to you to help protect your child against the dangers of the internet. And if you don’t keep a check of what your child is up to, it could be viewed by many as a dereliction of parental duty.

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