Health x Wellness
Parents worry about children’s online behaviour due to mobile devices
Intel Security shares findings from parents and children in their “2015 Teens and the Screen” Survey
This is the first year that the survey includes questions addressing the concerns of Singapore parents. The respondents included children aged from 8 to 16 years old as well as parents. In Singapore, 1,002 participants, split between 501 parents and 501 children aged 8 – 16, participated in the survey conducted between 28 April and 12 May, 2015.
In Singapore, nearly 50 percent of children aged 8 – 16 use two devices that can connect to the internet. The usage increases to nearly 70 percent of teenagers when looking at the 13 – 16 year old segment alone. 20 percent of these teenagers use their mobile devices at least 5 or more hours a day.
Watching videos is the most popular activity online (68 percent), followed by browsing and interacting via social media (55 percent), texting (55 percent) and reading articles (26 percent).
Parents were asked about which social media sites they think their children are on: Facebook (88 percent), WhatsApp (73 percent), YouTube (54 percent), Instagram (47 percent), Twitter (33 percent), and Skype (21 percent).
According to the survey, 89 percent of parents said they would monitor their child’s online activities across all devices if they could. This decreased as their child grew older; from 95 percent of parents of children aged 8-12 to 77 percent of parents of children aged 13-16. Nearly half the parents surveyed claim to know the passwords to access any of their child’s devices, apps and social media channels. This percentage decreases significantly as the children get older (65 percent for pre-teens down to 27 percent for teens).
Nearly eight out of ten parents share that they are worried about their children’s online behaviour due to the use of mobile devices.
From the children’s perspective, 61 percent of children would hide some or all of their online activity from their parents; 59 percent claim they would change their online behaviour when they knew their parents were watching. One in three would clear their browser history and delete messages. Other evasive tactics include minimising their browser when an adult is around, using a mobile device instead of a laptop or desktop computer and using privacy settings.
While this seems to point towards a deficit of trust in the parent-child relationship, both sides agreed that online safety is important. Survey findings show that 71 percent of children learn about online safety through the school curriculum and 64 percent observe and pick up information from their parents.
85 percent of parents have had conversations with their children about the risks of social media. Topics discussed include cyberbullying (71 percent), cyber criminals and identity theft (70 percent), privacy settings (68 percent) and online reputation (45 percent). Nearly seven out of ten parents worry about their child’s online reputation and how it might impact future education and career opportunities.
Another area both parents and children agree about is ensuring that a child’s whereabouts and personal information is not shared with strangers. This is a key concern for over 3 in 5 parents surveyed. The survey also found that many children who claimed to be active social media users (75 percent of children surveyed) have posted their phone number and name of their school online.
Finally, 84 percent parents find it critical that their children receive online safety or cyber security training in the next two to fives years to learn how to keep their personal information and themselves protected.
