Did you know?

 

  • 87% of parents and 80% of kids are aware that some online activities can put children in danger.
  • Teens have experienced dangerous situations more often than their parents realize.  Examples include being asked for personal information, sending a stranger a photo, and agreeing to meet online acquaintances in real life.

A poll of 606 Québec parents and 439 of their teenage children (aged 12 to 17) conducted by Léger Marketing in spring 2007 showed significant differences in perceptions of how kids use the Internet.

Here are some of the highlights:

Internet use

  • Teens spend an average of 13.3 hours per week in front of the home computer. 44% spend 11 hours or more at the computer. The number of hours increases with age. Boys are the biggest computer users.
  • Parents are generally well informed about the nature and frequency of their teens’ Internet use (instant messaging, chatting, emailing).
  • Parents underestimate their teens’ webcam use.
    • 8% of parents say their teens have used a webcam when communicating with strangers but 27% of teens say they have done so.
    • The teens who are most likely to have done so are those aged 16-17 (40%) and those who have no clear rules on Internet use in the home (44%).
  • Teens report extensive use of sites with pornographic or nude images. However, parents seem to be well aware of their teens’ behaviour when it comes to visiting pornographic sites.

Concerns about Internet safety

  • Widespread concern about teens’ Internet use in the home.
    • One quarter (25%) of parents say they are very concerned about their teens’ Internet use.
    • Out of a list of Internet dangers, parents chose visiting pornographic sites as their top concern (34%), followed by meeting undesirable people (15%) and meeting sexual predators (9%).
  • Clear awareness of Internet dangers among both parents and teens.
    • 87% of parents and 80% of teens believe there are online activities that could endanger teenagers.

Use of controls

  • Only 29% of parents use parental control software to restrict their teens’ Internet use; 80% of teens say they do not know how to deactivate parental control software.
  • The following are the methods most frequently used by parents to control their children’s use of the Internet:
    • Placing the computer in a common room (78%)
    • Discussing Internet use with their teenage children (77%)
    • Checking the browser history file (77%) and chat logs (61%); however, the majority of teens (55%) say they know how to clear the browser history.

Rules for Internet use

  • 79% of parents have rules for their teenage children’s use of the Internet in the home. The most common rules are not providing personal information online (99%) and not visiting certain types of sites (96%).
  • The most frequently banned sites are:
    • Sites with pornographic or nude images (91%)
    • Chat sites for adults (85%)
    • Dating sites (71%)
    • Chat sites on which webcams are used (49%)
    • Film and music download sites (28%)
  • Only 52% of parents say they regularly discuss the rules for Internet use in the home with their teenage children. Differences in perception were found when respondents were asked about discussions of specific rules. For example, 78% of parents say they have discussed not providing personal information online with their kids, but only 59% of teens can recall such discussions.

High-risk behaviour

  • More teens than parents say they have been asked for personal information (34% compared with 20% of parents) or exposed to conversations of a sexual nature (31% compared with 15% of parents).
  • A significant proportion of teens say they have sent photos to people they met on the Internet:
    • All teens: 24%
    • Teens aged 16-17 (27%)
    • Teens using computers equipped with a webcam (26%)
    • Teens who have no rules about Internet use at home (27%)
  • 8% of teens said they had met a stranger in person after conversing with him or her on the Internet. Of that group, 39% said they had done it more than once. 26% of teens refused to answer the question. In most cases, they met other teens of their own age; however, there were cases in which a teen met a man aged over 18.