Parents not protecting kids from the Web
- Added:
- Oct 08, 2004
The survey, conducted by Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA), found that only 8% of parents with children aged five to fifteen have implemented five of the most basic and important child safety guidelines for the Internet.
Jessica Hendrie-Liano, the chair of the ISPA Council, said, “Parents should ensure that their children use the Internet in a communal room, offer their children regular reminders of online safety rules, know who their children are talking to online, surf the ‘net with their children and ensure that the computer their children use to access the Internet has functioning online safety software.”
Nearly two out of five (38%) parents allow their children to use the Internet in a private room. The study showed that parents who ensure that their children use the Internet in a communal room, such as the lounge, most frequently offer Internet safety advice to children.
Only two fifths of parents (41%) give regular reminders to their children about online safety rules. Nearly one third of parents (28%) have never spoken to their child about giving out personal information such as their home address, telephone numbers or passwords on the Internet.
As many as one in eight parents (13%) do not know if their child uses chat rooms. Of the 26% of parents who know that their children do use chat rooms, 65% admit to not knowing their children's online friends.
Although 63% of parents frequently use the Internet with their children at home, nearly one in four (23%) parents have never used the Internet with their child.
One third of parents (32%) have not enabled basic safety features such as web and spam filtering solutions.
Of the 68% of parents that have enabled such safety features, one in eight of them do not know if they have done so correctly.
Parents are noticing that children are only online for an average of four hours 35 minutes per week. Only one in eight children are on the Internet for more than ten hours per week.
Hendrie-Liano added, “It’s hard to dispute that the Internet offers a great resource to help children learn, create and connect with other children worldwide. Families generally realise the enormous educational and social benefits of the Internet.”
