Survey Findings: Parents, Teens and Online Privacy

A new poll finds that many parents have new concerns about their children and their privacy online.

The Pew Internet Project and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University just released a new study called “Parents, Teens and Online Privacy.”

Among the key findings, 81% of parents reported being concerned about how much advertisers are tracking their kids!

Nearly as many also expressed anxiety over the ongoing parental fear of stranger interaction. A total of 72% of parents reported they were at least somewhat concerned about if (and how) their teen is connecting with strangers online.

While parents may have worried about that since the launch of the internet, there is also perhaps a relatively new concern for parents. 69% fear that their teen is posting material that will end up damaging his or her reputation. And 70% said they were concerned their child’s online activity might affect later opportunities, such as getting into college or landing a job.

There is some positive news about how parents are working to prevent problems before they start.

The study found that 59% of the parents of teen users of social networking sites have talked with their child because they were concerned about something posted to their profile and 39% helped their child set up privacy settings.

In addition to such direct interventions, some parents are monitoring their children on family computers and in online searches:

50% of parents of online teens have used parental controls or other means of blocking, filtering, or monitoring their child’s online activities—a number that has remained almost unchanged since last year. 42% have searched for their child’s name online to see what information is available about him or her.

The new study gives us some insight into what concerns parents the most and how they are managing technology risks as more and more teens engage in internet activity and social media.