Research Summary Series 7: Age-by-age, what parents feel about child net use
August 15th, 2008As part of a series of posts, we examine the latest research on how young people and the wider population in the UK use the internet, and what it means for Local Authorities, schools and teachers.
Age-by-age: what do parents feel about their children using the net?
Early years’ parents
“Viruses and breaking the machine”
Concerns of parents of younger children (7 to 8 years) tended to be quite basic, i.e. focusing on breaking the computer or downloading viruses. They did not expect their children to surf much or really experiment although some had begun to try to communicate some of the basic rules around safety and had banned
certain sites.
Later Primary parents
“Accidental stumbling”
Parents of children in this age group (9-11 years) were beginning to feel more concerned about their
children stumbling across inappropriate material or being exposed to paedophile activity. However, they still felt reasonably confident about being in a position to monitor and control their children’s internet activity.
Parents of secondary
“Inappropriate communication”
The parents in the sample who expressed the greatest levels of concern were those whose children were in early secondary school. Parents of younger teens were particularly concerned about social networking sites and gaming communities. Their concerns centred around: Inappropriate sharing of personal details; the risks of befriending a paedophile; and the posting of inappropriate images.
They felt that the changing lifestage (and a growing interest in the opposite sex) coupled with their growing knowledge and confidence in using the internet meant a greater potential for inappropriate behaviour on-line. (Parental knowledge decreases here)
Parents of and children in the 10 to 15 year old age group were also particularly concerned about cyberbullying. (Mostly on MSN chat)
Most teenagers were confident that if they did end up somewhere they didn’t want to be they could just click away.
Parents of senior secondary
“Let them get on with it”
Parents of the oldest children in the sample felt that there was less they could do
to control their children’s safe use of the internet and tended to assume that their
children would be more aware and sensible by this point anyway. They were
more prepared to turn a blind eye and ‘let them get on with it’.
66% of 15-24 year olds have broadband and about 82% of them have Social Networking Service (SNS) profile. Most 16-17 yrs have a profile (67%).
A child starts planning the storyboard, while another begins
Andy Wallis
Between June 9-13 you have the opportunity to help young poets from Georgia and Glasgow’s East End with their poetry. In 


