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Parents Take Responsibility For Kid Safety Online
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2006-08-11
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The vast majority of parents polled believe responsibility for ensuring kids' Internet safety rests with themselves and schools, but not the government. The poll, commissioned by Cable in the Classroom and conducted by Harris Interactive, was released at the Back-to-School Media Briefing held at the New York City Public Library.
A whopping 90 percent of parents think they should have a lot of responsibility for teaching and ensuring safe online practices. But only a third of them felt "very knowledgeable" about how to do it. About 71 percent think schools should share a large portion of that responsibility, especially in regard to teaching online media literacy.
An even bigger majority of parents (94 percent), have taken steps toward this resolving this concern, including talking to their children about to use the Internet (88 percent), monitoring online activities (82 percent), limiting Internet use to the living room or open areas of the home (75 percent), setting time limits on use (74 percent), and installing software to police their activities (55 percent).
"We know that most parents have positive views of the value of the Internet for children," said Douglas Levin, senior director of education policy for Cable in the Classroom, "and that they are taking steps to make certain these experiences are safe and enriching."
However, educators themselves feel that schools aren't doing enough to teach kids responsible surfing. A related poll of full-time classroom teachers and library/media specialists at K-12 public schools, commissioned in March of this year, found that most educators (60 percent) say their schools put less emphasis than they should on teaching media literacy.
"Considering the Internet's enormous educational potential and the crucial role media, technology, and content play in the 21st century workplace, it's increasingly important for parents and schools to equip children with media literacy skills," said Helen Soulé, Ph.D., executive director of Cable in the Classroom.
Though parents believe schools play a large role in teaching kids how to stay safe, less than half (49 percent) agreed that the government and law enforcement agencies should have a lot of responsibility in this area.
Another study released this week revealed that the Internet is safer for children than it was five years ago, in regard to sexual predation. Thirteen percent of children ages 10-17 said in 2005 that they received unwanted sexual advances from adults or other children, down from 19 percent in 2001.
However, exposure to pornography was up from six percent to nine percent over five years ago, and online bullying and harassing by peers was also up.
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