Do you know what your kids are doing online? U.K. parents think they do with a poll showing that 87 per cent said they are fully aware of the content their kids have looked at online. Eight-six per cent said they didn’t think their children would do anything they disapproved of.

However, a poll of children was also done and - SURPRISE - the results were different. Many admitted to surfing the net while their parents thought they were doing homework. Thirty-three per cent of the children surveyed said they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were looking at.  Twenty-eight per cent said they accessed adult websites.

It is not just what they were seeing online that is concerning, but who they interacting with and the extent of those conversations. Eleven per cent of children said they had sexually explicit conversations online. Twenty-seven per cent said they had conversations with strangers, while 10 per cent actually met up with people they only knew from the net.

An interesting part of the survey was that there were situations online where the kids themselves knew something “wrong” was happening. One in seven said they felt uncomfortable at times online.

One thing that came across loud and clear in the survey is that answer to keeping kids safe online is not banning them from the screen. Fifty-five per cent the Internet had “vastly improved their life” and access at home was “as essential as a fridge or cooker.”

Robin

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