Research Outline

Online Safety; Parent's Perspective

Goals

To get 3-4 bullet points about what parents claim they fear most when it comes to their child's safety online.

Early Findings

Our first round of research unveiled the following information:

Pew Research

  • According to a Pew Research survey, parents of younger teens are more concerned about their online activities and tend to monitor them on a regular basis.
  • Parents are concerned mostly about harassment, bullying, and explicit content, and they are worried about the long screen time, too. 57% of parents surveyed by Pew Research in the US stated that "they worry a lot or some about their child receiving or sending explicit content or messages online, 59% of the parents were worried about their child being bullied or harassed online. 65% of parents were concerned about their child spending too much time on the phone.
  • Nearly 52% of parents said that they used parent controls for monitoring their child's online activities.
  • Other findings from the research survey can be found here.

Kaspersky

  • Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity company, and it recently published the findings from its global survey of parents and their thoughts about online security.
  • "84% of parents worldwide are worried about their children's online safety."
  • "According to the parents surveyed by Kaspersky, some of the most prominent online threats for their children include being exposed to harmful content, such as sexual or violent (27%); experiencing internet addiction (26%); and receiving anonymous messages or content inciting them to carry out a violent or inappropriate activity (14%)."
  • Other findings from the research survey can be found here.

AgeChecked

  • AgeChecked surveyed 1500 parents in the United Kingdom and found out that 58% of parents were worried about their children sharing embarrassing content online, nearly 71% of the parents were worried about their child's activities on social media.
  • "57% of parents stated that the current online age restriction protocols are not effective enough, and 60% wanted better age controls on social media channels to keep their children safe." Other findings from the research survey can be found here.

Ofcom UK

  • A report published by Ofcom UK highlighted that one of the most significant concerns for parents of "5 to 15-year-olds who use the internet is 'companies collecting data about what their child is doing online' (50% of parents are concerned about this)." 41% of parents stated that they were worried about their children giving personal details to inappropriate people online."
  • 40% of the surveyed parents were worried about cyberbullying, and 29% feared about their child being radicalized online. 29% of parents were worried about the content of online video games.

Summary of Findings

  • Our background research was able to provide the most recent and relevant information, and we have not restricted our research to a particular country. We have included info from surveys that were conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, and we have also included information from global surveys.