Online Parent-Child Gap Widens

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids writes "A new study by Dafna Lemish from the Department of Communication at Tel Aviv University has found that there is an enormous gap between what parents think their children are doing online and what is really happening. 'The data tell us that parents don't know what their kids are doing,' says Lemish. The study found that 30% 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, that 73% of the children reported giving out personal information online while the parents of the same children believed that only 4% of their children did so, and that 36% of the children admitted to meeting with a stranger they had met online while fewer than 9% of the parents knew that their children had been engaging in such risky behavior. Lemish advises that parents should give their children the tools to be literate Internet users and most importantly, to talk to their children. 'The child needs similar tools that teach them to be [wary] of dangers in the park, the mall or wherever. The same rules in the real world apply online as well.'"

Comments

I grew up on line

[plover]

So I figured I knew what my teenager was up to. Nothing he'd find particularly worried me, as long as he didn't start espousing Nazi rhetoric or join some freaky cult.

I was mostly hoping he was learning to hack, but afraid that he was probably just surfing for pr0n and MP3s... I did warn him a couple times about file sharing, and I did maintain control of the router. But for the most part, he was responsible, so I let him be.

I was richly rewarded. He's 20 and turning out to be a hacker, much to my relief. :-)

Re:I grew up on line

[calebt3]

You were modded funny because you claimed to have a child, which is logically impossible for a /.er

Alternate Summary

[Amorymeltzer]

According to a recent study, parents are becoming increasingly negligent when it comes to raising their children. The study found that over one-third (38%) of children had been allowed to meet with a stranger they met on the internet. Parental standards have been falling for years, but this recent study gives insight as to the increasing threat of a lack of parental oversight.

In an unrelated study, scientists found that approximately 40% of people aged 9-18 years old should be "destroyed for the good of mankind."

Yeah

[barakn]

... and children never lie on surveys.

Cugals...

[flyingfsck]

In Israel, if a girl working at a check-out counter thinks you are hot, then she'll write her phone number on the cash register slip. So does a check-out line count as an on-line encounter?

Re:Fixed

[zenkonami]

I wouldn't let my kids on MySpace just because I wouldn't want them to learn poor web design.

If I had kids.

Actually a sound suggestion

[Opportunist]

Hey, the suggestion those guys give is actually a good one! Teach your kids to use the net sensibly. Protect your privacy, be wary of strangers that offer you deals that are "too good to be true", don't just trust people because they appear nice online...

And that teaching should come from the same people that fill out every damn form on a "click the monkey to win" spin, answer "easy money fast" spam and hand out their banking details to widows of Nigerian presidents?

Sorry, but first of all we'd have to teach the parents, the adults, how to be safe online. But that is so much work, and we don't want to deal with that internet thingamajig stuff that our kids are so much into, ain't there some program that could do it? Or wait, what do we have a government for, anyway, they should handle that!

Re:Hmm?

[TeknoHog]

I met a girl online, through myspace. We talked, became friends, and eventually dated a couple times. This isn't uncommon.

Actually, for a typical slashdotter, it is.

Re:Hmm?

[linest]

Then it's kind of misleading to say you met your wife "on line",

Only true if he's talking to someone who thinks "online" means "we were using web browsers to access our myspace accounts." But he can't be held responsible for the confusion of someone THAT clueless.

One Up

[kellyb9]

Oh Yeah? I met MY wife on the Arpanet! Beat that!

Oh yeah?

[Boronx]

I met My wife on a system of towers that relayed messages through semaphore.

Re:Hmm?

[TheSpoom]

True story: My ex's parents had a broadsword on the wall behind the TV.

Not that I ever thought they'd use it, but still.