Parents in the Dark Over Kids’ Surfing Habits

Parents are ignorant about what their kids are doing on the internet, according to a study conducted by Prof.Dafna Lemish from the Dept. of communications at TelAviv University.

Prof.Lemish found that seventy three percent of the kids gave their personal information on line but the parents were aware of only four percent of them doing so.

The same children were also asked if they had been exposed to pornography while surfing, or if they had made face-to-face contact with strangers that they had met online.

Thirty-six percent from the high school group admitted to meeting with a stranger they had met online. Nearly 40 percent of these children admitted to speaking with strangers regularly.

In another part of the study, it was found that 30 percent of children between the ages of 9 and 18 delete the search history from their browsers in an attempt to protect their privacy from their parents.

The researcher suggests that common filtering software may not be effective, since children will access what they are looking for elsewhere, at a friend’s house, an Internet cafe, or school.

Lemis believes that it is due to the parents’ illiteracy as far as computer operations are concerned.

'This lack of knowledge on the parents’ part may be no different than the situation before the advent of the Web. Parents don't know what their children are doing on the Net, in the same manner that they don't know what goes on at class, parties, or clubs,'she cautioned.

Lemish said that parents should give their children the tools to be literate Internet users, and to navigate around any potential dangers and most importantly, parents
need to talk to their children.

Source-ANI
CGP/L