FACTS & figures
THE REALITIES OF
CYBER PARENTING
What Pre-teens and Teens Are Up to Online
A s children and teens are spending more of their time online,
it is increasingly important parents are aware of their
behavior to help protect them from the potential risks and
consequences. This year’s study of more than 1,000 American parents
and 1,000 teens/pre-teens reveals that parents are most concerned
with their kids unknowingly interacting with online predators.

This concern seems to have validity; 27 percent of teen/pre-teen
respondents indicated that they have met or would meet someone
in person who they first met online.

Additionally, parents still seem to have the “not my child” mentality.

While 94 percent of parents say they are aware of their child’s online
behavior, 35 percent of kids admit to bullying others. The tweens and
teens surveyed admitted they made fun of other people to someone
else (19 percent), called someone fat or ugly or made fun of other
physical appearances (16 percent), and tagged mean pictures or
threatened someone (10 percent). To help ensure kids are growing
up to be responsible digital citizens, parents must closely monitor
their actions on the Internet, particularly on social media, and have
frequent and open talks about what type of behavior is acceptable
and what will not be tolerated.

TO TRUST OR NOT TRUST
14% of parents say that they would
not monitor their children’s activity
across devices while 86% would
More than 77% of the parents who
would not monitor the child’s online
activities indicate that they don’t feel
it is necessary
51% of the parents who would
not monitor the child’s online
activities say it is because they
feel it is a breach of trust with
their child
When it comes to their child’s online activity,
parents are most interested in:
Unknowingly interact
with predators/
pedophiles Other
Cyberbullying other kids
11% 28%
7% Being
cyberbullied Posting
intimate photos
8% 11%
14% 84% of parents tell
their child when they
attempt to find out
what their child is
doing online
13% of the parents
think their child has
ever cyberbullied
someone else
Sharing personal information such
as home address or phone number
21% Interacting with
strangers



SOCIALLY ACTIVE
48% of parents feel Facebook is the safest place for them to
post photos of their child­—parents potentially believe Facebook’s
privacy settings are the strongest of all social sites, or they are only
familiar with this site since it is the only one they are active on
52% of parents feel it is okay
if their child is friends with
adults on social media
93% of the parents are
okay if it is a relative/
someone they know
56% of the parents are
okay if it is a teacher (for
parents with sons aged 13-16
this is 61%, for parents with
daughters aged 13-16 this is
only 49%)
69% of children ask their
parents for permission before
downloading or purchasing apps
8% 36% of parents indicate
there is no safe place online
to post photos of their child
MOST USED SOCIAL APPS:
84% of the parents with
children who are active on
social media follow their
children on social media
networks Most children created
their Facebook account
when they were between
10 and 13 years old
54% of the children active
on social media say they are
connected or ‘friends’ with
their teacher or mentor
SAFE CONNECTING
Nearly one in three children (29%) know
other people’s passwords, and
nearly half of them (47%) have accessed
those accounts without them knowing
Main reasons are:
• To see if they were talking to an ex (56%)
• To see private photos (38%)
• To dig up dirt on them (24%)
• As a joke to change their settings or picture (19%)
50 %
40 %
20 %
Facebook YouTube
Instagram 16 %
13 %
11 %
Twitter Snapchat
WhatsApp Most children learn information
about online safety from their
parents (79%), in school (59%)
or from friends (33%)
Most children (83%) are
concerned about maintaining
the privacy of their personal
information When communicating with their
children about social media
risks, the most discussed topics
are cyberbullying (80%), cyber
criminals and identity theft (73%),
online reputation (70%) and
privacy settings (69%)
36% of the children who
89% of parents find it important or very important that their kids
receive online safety or cyber security training in the next 2-5 years
to keep their personal information and themselves protected
are active on social media
do turn on location services
for some or all of their social
media accounts
CRUEL INTENTIONS
More than half of children think the worst thing that can happen
to them online is people can find their whereabouts and personal
information. Followed by:
ALIAS 42 %
28% Facebook is by far mentioned
most often as being the platform
most likely to be used by youth to
openly criticize people
followed by Twitter
of teens use anonymous names or aliases for
their social media profiles. Of those who do:
Main reason for doing so is that they are worried about
parents or faculty seeing inappropriate content (52%)
One in three children who use anonymous names or aliases
do so because they don’t want friends or classmates to know it
is them posting something
• Being cyberbullied (39%)
• Being hacked (32%)
• Interacting with strangers (31%)
• Secrets about them being revealed (29%)
35 %
55 %
of the children indicate that they
have bullied people on social media
SOURCE: Intel Security and the Family Online Safety Institute