New research highlighting the fears of parents when it comes to their child using social media have revealed some shocking stats, with a huge 78% of parents admitting that they have logged into their child’s account on sites such as Facebook in order to check their private messages.
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The study, conducted by the US-based Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an organization which dishes out advice to parents fearful of their childrens’ safety in the digital age, collected data from three focus groups along with an online survey with 584 participants. One focus group featured parents of children aged 6 to 9, another with children aged 10 to 13, and finally a group of parents with children aged between 14 and 17.
The results were as follows:
- 78% – Parents who admitted they had logged into their child’s social media account to check their messages.
- 76% – Parents who were concerned that their child may view inappropriate content online.
- 71% – Parents who had checked their child’s text messages.
- 69% – Parents who were afraid of a stranger contacting their child over social media.
- 63% – Parents with children who use social media sites who felt that the risks of their child using social media outweighed the benefits.
- 53% – Parents who have placed parental controls on their child’s devices.
- 45% – Parents who place restrictions upon how many text message their child can send/receive.
- 26% – Parents whose children are not on social media who believe that the risks outweigh the benefits.
These results highlight a large amount of suspicion when it comes to parents and the social media activity that their children engage in, along with a 16% gap in parents who are openly afraid of their child’s social media usage, and those who respond to these fears by placing restrictions upon their child’s browsing.
While it’s inevitable that parents will worry about their child’s online behavior, it’s concerning that so many appear to not trust their children and instead actively check up/spy on them. Whether you agree or disagree with these methods being employed by parents to monitor the social media activity of their children, there’s no doubt that these are eye-opening statistics.
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