Teens Outsmart Their Parents About Online Activities
Parents are clueless when it comes to their teen-agers'
online activities. That's the conclusion of a study by security software firm
McAfee.
Parents may think they are staying in touch with their
kids' computer habits, but the study found children have a number of ways to
effective hide what they're doing from their parents.
The study focused on nine in particular:
1. Clearing the browser history
This is a simple function in the settings portion of the
browser. The list of visited Websites, known as the “history,” can be erased
manually or the browser can be set to erase it automatically each time it is
closed. Fifty-three percent of teens said they do it.
2. Close or minimize the browser when a parent walks in
This is done with a simple mouse click, removing the
browser from the screen so that whatever is behind the browser, such as a term
paper, appears on the screen. It's the electronic equivalent of placing a comic
book inside a a school book and 46 percent of teens say they do it.
3. Hide or delete Instant Messages (IM)
This is a way Internet users can carry on written
conversations in real time. The “chat” boxes are located at the bottom of the
computer screen and can be closed or minimized the same as web pages.
Thirty-four percent of teens say they do it.
The teens also revealed to McAfee that they:
4. Lie, or omit details about their online activities
5. Use a computer their parents don't check
6. Use an Internet-enabled mobile device
7. Use privacy settings to hide content
8. Create private email addresses their parents don't
know about
9. Create duplicate or fake social network profiles
Know the dangers
Teens not only know their way around technology, most are
aware of online dangers -- yet they continue to take risks by posting personal
information and risky photos online, even though they know their parents would
be horrified if they knew. Many teens are accessing inappropriate online
content, despite 73.5 percent of parents who say they trust their teens to not
access age-inappropriate content online.
Specifically 43 percent of teens have accessed simulated
violence online, 36 percent have access sexual topics online and 32 percent
have accessed nude content or pornography online.
McAfee reports that some teens even engage in illegal
activity online. For example, 15 percent admit they have hacked into a social
network account and 30 percent says they have pirated music or movies. At the
same time, only 15 percent of parents say they are aware their children have
engaged in these activities.
“Parents need to get informed about their children’s
online behavior,” says Robert Siciliano, McAfee Online Security Expert. “The
fact is that allowing teens to participate in unmonitored online activity
exposes them to real dangers with real consequences, and these dangers are
growing exponentially with the proliferation of social networks.”
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