Teens Use the Internet, Moms Worry

McAfee, the computer-security guys, did a survey of teenagers and mothers of teenagers, and found that A.mothers are very concerned about what their teens are doing online and B.teenagers know how to keep their parents from finding out what they do online.

About two-thirds of mothers of teens in the United States are just as, or more, concerned about their teenagers' online safety, such as from threatening emails or solicitation by online sexual predators, as they are about drunk driving (62 per cent) and experimenting with drugs (65 per cent), according to new research released today by Internet security company McAfee, Inc.

This fear is supported by the McAfee study, which revealed that 52 per cent of teens have given out personal information to someone online they don't know offline, with 34 per cent of online teen girls having given out a photograph or a physical description of themselves to someone they don't know. The biggest hurdle mothers face is keeping track of what their kids do online, as 32 per cent of teens said they have cleared the browser history when they have finished using the computer, and 16 per cent have created private e-mail addresses or social networking profiles to hide what they do online from their parents. McAfee, Inc. Research Reveals Mothers Rate Cyber Dangers as High as Drunk Driving or Experimenting With Drugs

I've seen parents go both ways on this. I've known parents who make their kids get permission for every link they click on, and I've known some who let their kids do pretty much whatever they want. When my kids were younger we used to keep the computer in the family room, but as they got older they had more independence. And yes when they were younger I didn't mind going through the History list or occasionally reading an IM that had been left open. Over the years there was a little bit of stuff that I would have preferred not to find, but not much.

In a lot of families I think the kids understand the computer better than their parents do. I could tell some stories, so could you.

The research conducted by Harris Interactive® for McAfee among more than 1,000 U.S. moms of online teens aged 13-17 and online teens aged 13-17, offers numerous insights into moms' fears and teenagers' behaviors on the Internet. Fifty-eight per cent of mothers do not believe the government is doing enough to keep children safe online. And moms no longer view their children's bedrooms as a safe place either – 44 per cent said they worry about their teens' safety when they are online in their bedroom unsupervised, and about one in four (24 per cent) are more concerned about what their children do online than what they do when they are out of the house. When it comes to their teens' online behavior, sharing too much personal information is a primary worry of 58 per cent of mothers.

The survey results are not available online, only this press release. You have to remember that this is an advertising tool for McAfee, it's in their interest to word things so that parents worry, so they'll buy McAfee's products.

The article asks, "Are Mothers Deluding Themselves About What Their Kids Do Online?"

According to the study, the answer is a resounding "yes." McAfee's research found that 72 per cent of mothers have a verbal agreement with their teen – that is, a discussion of what is and is not allowed online – and 48 per cent admitted they don't always know what their kids do online. Through polling teens, McAfee discovered that the reality is that many teenagers are spinning a web of evasive operations to avoid their parents' supervision, while potentially exposing themselves and others to cyber dangers.

• 63 per cent of teens said they know how to hide what they do online from their parents. 43 per cent have closed or minimized the browser at the sound of a parental step, 32 per cent have cleared the browser history when they have finished using the computer, 16 per cent have created private e-mail addresses or social networking profiles and 11 per cent have unlocked/disabled/ parental/filtering controls
  
• 52 per cent of teens have given out personal information online to someone they don't know offline including personal photos and/or physical descriptions of themselves (24 per cent). Double the number of teen girls have shared photos or physical descriptions of themselves online as boys (34 per cent girls vs. 15 per cent boys)
  
• 20 per cent of teens have engaged in cyberbullying behaviors, including posting mean or hurtful information or embarrassing pictures, spreading rumors, publicizing private communications, sending anonymous e-mails or cyberpranking someone
  
• 9 per cent of teens have used the Internet to cheat at school

There is a certain school of thought that says that using technology to do your schoolwork should not be considered "cheating." In the future, it will be more important to know how to use a computer creatively than to memorize a bunch of facts -- you can always Google for the facts, right? Knowing how to Google is now the important skill to have.

It's funny in this survey to realize that no moms of teenagers had the worldwide web when they were teenagers. It only appeared in the mid-nineties. So they have no personal experience of what it's like to put something on your Facebook and have some creep try to friend you. The kids, on the other hand, cannot imagine a world without it. I tell my kids about the old black and white video games we had when I was their age, and they totally buy it. Remember the old crank-handled computers, before electricity?

It seems to me we have to raise this generation to be responsible, to make wise decisions, we can't look over their shoulders every second their online. And they know how to hide what they're doing when we're watching.