UK parents oblivious to children's internet habits

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 18 Mar 2009 at 11:46

A new survey reveals that parents are severely miscalculating the amount of time their children spend online.

According to the study conducted by Symantec, parents believe their children spend an avergae of 18.8 hours per month online. In reality, it's 43.5 hours. British parents are among those with the worst grasp of how long their children spend online.

The survey also found that 81% of parents are confident their children are looking at "suitable" content. But 31% of the UK children in the survey claim their parents are oblivious to the sites they visit. This is backed up by the 20% of parents who admitted to discovering their children viewing "unsuitable" content online - defined loosely in the survey as content parents "don't approve of".

Though the survey raises concerns about parental supervision of children's online behaviour, there is a bright spot.

Of those surveyed, 67% of UK adults claims the internet makes keeping in touch with their children easier, with a further 58% agreeing that it has improved their relationship with their children.

One in five UK adults say they use a webcam at least once a week to keep in touch with family and friends.