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Moms’ tech concerns & countermeasures: Survey

August 11, 2010 By Anne 4 Comments

To me, the most interesting slide in the BlogHer/Parenting magazine national survey of moms is the one about the difference between their fears vs. their kids’ experience of what they fear: Mothers’ biggest concern, quite naturally, is inappropriate communications with an adult online (62% share this concern), but only 1% of moms surveyed said their kids had experienced such communication. Next were cyberbullying (57% concerned, 1% had kids who’d experienced it) and sexting (56% vs. 1%). The rest were online pornography (55% vs. 4%); “addictive online behavior” (53% vs. 5%); identity theft (51% vs. 0%); and that their children might interact with hate groups online (52% vs. 0%).

The two populations of moms surveyed were Parenting magazine’s “MomConnection,” a nationally representative panel of 464 mothers age 18+, and 568 “digital-savvy moms” 18-49 who are members of the BlogHer Publishing Network for a total sample of 1,032 women.

In this sample, interestingly, the numbers for moms using parental controls are higher than many of us in the online safety field are accustomed to seeing: 85% are very or somewhat likely to use them for TV, computers, and Web browsers, the survey found. As for the most common such technologies, filtering and monitoring, 95% are very or somewhat likely to set content limits and 97% to monitor their kids’ online activities with the kids’ knowledge (60% without their kids’ knowledge). In another form of monitoring, 98% are very or somewhat likely to keep tabs on their children’s social networking by friending them in those sites. Two other popular aids: 94% are very or somewhat likely to set time limits on tech use, and 89% to consult ratings for appropriate film, TV, and videogame use.

The bottom line from BlogHer and Parenting was that “moms worry, but they’re not afraid.” They “are not shy about setting limits or keeping watch.” We worry because we always have worried about our kids and we always will. But here’s why we’re less and less afraid, I think, based on the survey’s findings: “Parents use technology themselves,” to talk about their lives, to keep their families connected 24/7, to bridge generational gaps, to get insights into their kids’ thoughts and activities. This is the writing on the wall, I think – why the worst online-safety fears are part of a transitional time when policymakers and news people view technology and youth through their own mass-media, analog technology lenses. Parental worries and youth risk will always be part of the landscape, but thankfully fear of the unknown is slowly getting replaced by experience and solid research. Here’s coverage from the New York Times’s “Motherlode” blog and GetParentalControls.org.

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Filed Under: Parenting, Research, Social Media, social networking Tagged With: BlogHer, parental controls, Parenting, Parenting magazine, social media research, tech parenting, technology research

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Daniel Cardoso says

    August 16, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    Anne, don’t you reckon some of these answers suffer from a bias arising from social expectations? Do you find this level of parental mediation believable?

    Thanks,
    Daniel

    Reply
  2. Barry Joseph says

    August 13, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    As always, great analysis. Thank you!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Parents, you’re not just focusing on FB, right? | NetFamilyNews.org says:
    October 13, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    […] games such as Farmville (more detail at Mashable). [For more on in-site monitoring, see "Moms' tech concerns & countermeasures" and "Facebook: No. 1 tool for parenting? Maybe. Use wisely."] // Share| Permalink Post a […]

    Reply
  2. Tweets that mention Moms’ tech concerns & countermeasures: Survey | NetFamilyNews.org -- Topsy.com says:
    August 13, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by annecollier, DML Central. DML Central said: National survey highlights difference between mothers' online fears vs. their kids’ actual experience http://bit.ly/aA31Ww […]

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Our (DIGITAL) PARENTING BASICS: Safety + Social
NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education
CASEL.org & the 5 core social-emotional competencies of SEL
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Innovative Public Health Research
Childnet International
Committee for Children
Congressional Internet Caucus Academy
ConnectSafely.org
Control Shift: a pivotal book for Internet safety
Crimes Against Children Research Center
Crisis Textline
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative's Revenge Porn Crisis Line
Cyberwise.org
danah boyd's blog and book about networked youth
Disconnected, Carrie James's book on digital ethics
FOSI.org's Good Digital Parenting
The research of Global Kids Online
The Good Project at Harvard's School of Education
If you watch nothing else: "Parenting in a Digital Age" TED Talk by Prof. Sonia Livingstone
The International Bullying Prevention Association
Let Grow Foundation
Making Caring Common
Raising Digital Natives, author Devorah Heitner's site
Renee Hobbs at the Media Education Lab
MediaSmarts.ca
The New Media Literacies
Report of the Aspen Task Force on Learning & the Internet and our guide to Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The Ruler Approach to social-emotional learning (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
Sources of Strength
"Young & Online: Perspectives on life in a digital age" from young people in 26 countries (via UNICEF)
"Youth Safety on a Living Internet": 2010 report of the Online Safety & Technology Working Group (and my post about it)

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