Online identity firm Garlik commissioned research among 500 children aged 8–15 and 500 parents across the UK. Its findings suggest that 40% of children regularly visit websites that are prohibited by their parents. Many divulge personal details without parental consent, including full name (30%), home address (12%), mobile number (20%), home telephone number (10%), school details (46%) and family photos (9%).
One in five children in Britain has met up with someone first encountered online and five percent do so on a regular basis. Only seven percent of parents are aware that their children are doing this.
Eleven percent of children have been bullied online – with victims intimidated by email or on chat-rooms – yet only half have spoken to their parents about their ordeals.
Despite 90% of parents monitoring their offspring’s internet activities, more than half of the 8–15 year-olds questioned admitted to surfing the internet when their parents didn’t know, often late at night.
Garlik CEO Tom Ilube said: “Our research is a shocking wake-up call to all parents in the UK to sit down with their children and talk about how to keep safe online. The web is a wonderful place to explore but young people continue to make themselves vulnerable by not applying the same caution online as they would in person.”
Garlik’s top tips for parents
- Keep internet-connected computers in a central and open location, particularly for younger children.
- Sit down and talk to your children about their online activity. You should know everyone on your children's contact list.
- For younger kids, make sure you know all their passwords. Don’t intrude, but let them know that you know, just in case.
- Tell your children not to provide personal details online. No full names, addresses or telephone numbers.
- Devise a code of conduct – list of internet rules – that you and your children agree to sign up to.
