Letting Children be Children
"The internet and on-demand TV is my main concern, with children watching in their bedrooms. What is needed is a default setting for
pornography, so that parents cannot leave it accessible by mistake."
"I think it's far too easy to become exposed to unsuitable material on the internet."
"My biggest concern is the internet which is also invading young people's mobile phones."
Parents, Call for Evidence response41.
We believe that parents are aware of the need to mediate their children's usage of the internet, but they continue to be concerned that their children are particularly vulnerable when online (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4: Parental supervision of children's internet use
- One in eight internet users aged 5-7 (12 per cent) mostly use the internet on their own, rising to three in ten aged 8-11 (29 per cent) and over half of those aged 12-15 (56 per cent).
- Nearly one quarter (23 per cent) of 12-155 say they go online via a mobile phone. However, only one in five (21 per cent) of parents of 12-155 with such phones say that access to over-18 online material has been restricted.
- Just 37 per cent of parents of children who use the internet at home have any controls set or any software loaded to stop their child viewing certain types of website; 30 per cent say they use safe search settings.
- The majority of parents of children aged 5-15 (78 per cent) have rules in place about their child's internet use. Half of all parents of an 8-11 year old child (52 per cent) regularly check what their child is doing, but only 36 per cent of parents of a 5-7 year old and 34 per cent of parents of 12-15s.
- Around one in four parents of 5-155 (26 per cent) are concerned about the content of the websites their child visits.
- 23 per cent of parents think it likely that their child will experience something that bothers them online in the next six months.
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