At the beginning of 2024, FOSI set out to do something we’ve been aspiring to do for years: create a survey that helps us understand the state of online safety among children and their caregivers. Thus, the Online Safety Survey was born. The Online Safety Survey will run bi-annually, and the questions will remain the same - so we can assess the state of online safety through the years. We asked parents and kids their thoughts about parental controls, online safety education, household rules, and much more.
But, enough about the nitty gritty. We’ve received some preliminary results from our first ever wave of the Online Safety Survey - how do they apply to good digital parenting?
Result #1: The Student Becomes the Master?
We asked parents and kids the question: “Who is responsible for teaching children about internet safety?”. We found that far and away, kids and parents believe that parents themselves are responsible for this education. A decent amount of respondents also said teachers were responsible for this education, and a few respondents said tech companies shoulder some of this responsibility as well.
However, the most interesting result was that 43% of children think that they are responsible for teaching themselves about online safety. In contrast, only 19% of parents think that children are responsible for teaching themselves online safety. That’s a huge difference in opinion between parents and kids!
What can we learn from this?
1. Parents, since 91% of you feel responsible for your kids’ online safety education, build a conversation around this. Tell your kids something like “I want to make sure you are responsible online, so let me know if you need help, or if you’re feeling unsafe or unhappy in your digital world.”
2. Kids clearly feel a sense of empowerment when it comes to teaching themselves online safety skills. This is not necessarily a bad thing! Lean into this empowerment, and let your child teach you something about the online world, while also setting clear guidelines for them to follow, and making it clear that you're there to help them navigate the online world.
3. Make sure there’s an open line of communication between you and your kids’ teachers. Ask your kids’ educators what lessons they are teaching about online safety, so you can continue the discussion at home.
Result #2: Prep Time
We weren’t only curious about education, we were also curious about parents’ online safety education preparedness. With this thought in mind, we asked “How prepared do you feel to teach your child about online safety?” For the most part, we were pleasantly surprised by the answer. A vast majority of parents felt prepared or somewhat prepared to teach their children these skills. However, there was a significant dip in preparedness with parents of boys aged 14-17.
What can we learn from this?
1. Parents, have trust in yourself and your instincts! Take these feelings of preparedness and feel confident in guiding your child through the digital world. And know that if you’re ever struggling with a topic, FOSI’s resources can help.
2. Caregivers of boys aged 14-17, take a deep breath. It might be hard to get a boy aged 14-17 to listen to their parents, regardless of the topic. But understand that it’s important to still have these online safety conversations frequently especially with the rise of sextortion cases among boys of this age group.
Result #3: What are the Concerns?
We often hear that parents have worries about the Internet and what their children may be doing on it. But, the Internet is quite a vast place. To understand more about where parents’ concerns really lie, we asked: “From a safety standpoint, which type of screen time concerns you the most?”
Among all of the types of screen time we listed, social screen time (which included social media, text messaging and video chatting) was the most concerning by far. Some respondents were more concerned about other types of screen time, like browsing the Internet or interactive screen time (i.e., video games) but not nearly as many.
What was really interesting about this data is that kids and parents were in lockstep when it came to their concerns - meaning close to the same amount of kids and parents were concerned about the same things.
What can we learn from this?
1. Social screen time is a top concern. Admittedly, that’s a very broad category. Talk as a family about what social media platforms you are all using. Go deeper and discuss why and how you use them. Then, talk about what your concerns are, so you can work to alleviate them. For example, if you as a family think you’re spending too much time on social media, create a screen free hour in your house during which everyone has to log off and pick a different activity to engage in.
2. Kids and parents, you have much more in common than you might think when it comes to the online world. Just look at the data! Your concerns are exactly the same! Use this as a way to bond over online safety, and to have conversations about what the concerns are and how to avoid them.
Result #4: Parental Controls: Do They Work?
At FOSI, we often advise caregivers to use parental controls to foster their family’s online safety journey. But, how are kids feeling about them? We asked them: “How effective do you feel each of these types of parental controls are at keeping you safe online?”
There are a lot of parental controls out there that provide different safeguards. We asked about web filters, activity monitors, communication limits, privacy settings, content blockers and time limits. We found that kids who use these parental controls do tend to feel safer online. However, this feeling of safety decreases in each of these categories among teens aged 14-17.
What can we learn from this?
1. We hear from parents often that it’s really difficult to figure out parental controls. This data shows that it’s worth the struggle, because it makes your kids feel safer. With that in mind, we also encourage tech companies to make these controls easier to navigate.
2. As your kids age, remember to check in about your family’s parental control use. Do your kids still feel like the parental controls are enough to keep them safe? Maybe it’s time to adjust these controls to help with you and your child’s peace of mind.
Result #5: All Things Screens
“Screen time” is a pretty popular way to gauge how many hours kids are spending online. However, it doesn’t get into the nuances of how they are spending their time. For that reason, we like to talk about digital experiences in terms of “screen use”. For example, is your child spending two hours scrolling social media, or are they spending two hours on FaceTime with their grandparent? The same amount of time was spent on the screen, but the use was quite different.
We wondered how families thought about these terms, and how they navigate screen time versus screen use. So, we asked “Do you/your parents place limits on screen use overall or by type?”. We found a practically even split between families who place one overall screen time limit (i.e. kids have two hours of screen time a day, and then the devices go away), those who limit by type of screen use (i.e., kids have two hours of social screen time a day, but five hours for homework), and those who do not limit their screen time at all.
What can we learn from this?
1. For the 35% of parents who set no limits on screen time or screen use - consider doing so. The online world is full of rich experiences, but so is the offline world. It’s always a good idea to help your children log off for a while and do something else - like make a craft, cook a meal, or take a walk.
2. As a parent, you know what’s best for your family. If setting one overall screen time limit is working for your family, that’s great. If it’s causing conflicts in your household - consider setting limits by type of screen use. This is a great way to keep your kids digitally engaged while also still maintaining digital parenting rules and guidelines.
These five takeaways from the first-ever Online Safety Survey gave us a lot of material to work with, to help ensure families are having safer online experiences. In the Spring, we will run the survey again, and we will have a lot more data to share. We can’t wait to learn more from this project so that we can build a better, safer online safety ecosystem.
The Online Safety Survey was created in partnership with Ipsos, and was sponsored by Disney, the ESA, and TikTok.
Alanna is the Research & Program Specialist for the Family Online Safety Institute. She leads FOSI's Good Digital Parenting programming and research projects, and supports FOSI's communications efforts. Her prior experiences focused on both media and education. Alanna has taught English and communications courses at both the high school and college level, and concentrated on the subject of media literacy education during her master’s program.
Alanna has a master’s degree in media studies from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She also holds undergraduate degrees in both Public Relations and English from Penn State University, and is a Fulbright alumna.
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