Scary Stats About Kids & the Internet

I know that I go on and on from time to time about my kids' excessive obsession with Webkinz and Club Penguin, but now I have to be concerned about a new poll that was conducted by Symantec, the leader in Internet security,which recently conducted a poll by Harris Interactive® that revealed a significant digital divide between parents and their cyber-savvy children. According to the June 2007 poll, parents of children under 18 who access the Internet think their child is online three hours a week, on average, but children ages 8-17 admit to spending an average of seven hours online a week, and nearly a quarter (23 percent) report doing things online that their parents would not condone.

These startling statistics were used as the basis for Symantec’s first-ever Norton Connected and Protected Town Hall, which was held in partnership with Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson, whose personal platform is protecting children online, and Giant Campus’ Cybercamps, the nationally-recognized leader in technology summer camps for youth. During the August 2 Town Hall in New York City, more than 75 youth and parents participated in interactive discussions on Internet safety lead by Symantec’s Internet Safety Advocate Marian Merritt. The Town Hall explored the role the Internet and other technologies play in children’s personal, school and family lives, as well as encouraged kids and parents to keep an open dialogue about cyber safety, cyber security and cyber ethics.

While parents have much to learn about what their kids are doing online, Internet safety is a top concern for them. According to the June 2007 Symantec poll, nearly nine in ten parents (88 percent) express concern about keeping their child safe when he/she is online and about three in four (76 percent) are specifically concerned about their child being approached with inappropriate content or solicitations online. As part of the same poll, youth reported the following:

· Twenty-one percent of children have reported having an experience with inappropriate material via the Internet that made them feel uncomfortable
· Eighteen percent of children have had an experience with cyberbullyng or cyber pranks (such as receiving messages, images or videos intended as a joke or prank)
· Twenty-three percent of children have had an encounter with a stranger on the Internet, including seven percent of children who reported having met someone in the real world from the Internet
· Twenty percent of children wish their parents were more interested in using the Internet

So now it's time for you to Sound Off! Do you let your kids go on the net all the time and don't monitor what they're doing? I know that I've been finding myself curbing my kids' Internet surfing - you never know when they could wind up on the wrong page!