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Tracy Mooney
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Gotcha! Find out what teens are doing online
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Have you ever walked into the room where your kids are on the computer and they quickly close the window they were just viewing? Well, you are not alone. I have had my kids do that to me on more than one occasion. I have also noticed the browser history mysteriously erased or browser settings changed to “delete history after closing browser”.
This of course was before they realized what having a “Cyber Security Mom” really means and before I added McAfee Family Protection to my arsenal!
According to the latest McAfee study, ”The Secret Online Lives of Teens,” 38% of the 1,357 teens polled said they closed browsers when parents walk in the room and 32% clear browser history when they are done using the computer. 
Surprised? Well, with three kids, I am not. My oldest “cyber son” thinks this is conservative.
There was one statistic to come out of this study that really floored me. 91% of the kids polled said their parents “trust me to do what’s right when I am online” yet 59% of the same kids “know how to hide what I am doing online.” Wow, they learn young don’t they?
So why is there this gap in parent’s trust vs. kid’s sneakiness? I bet it varies from family to family. There are all sorts of reasons parents may not teach kids exactly how to stay safe, including perhaps just not knowing what to teach.
However, the problem is that 87% of teens go online some place other than home and if they aren’t being taught how to stay safe (without a filter in place, parental supervision, etc.) they may get into trouble somewhere other than home. They also have access to the internet on handheld gaming devices, game systems and phones where parents may not have set up parental controls.
Some of the stats that pop out at me from the Harris/McAfee poll where kids are engaging in risky behavior:
– 69 percent of 13-17 year olds have updated their status on social networking sites to include their physical location
– 28 percent of teens chat with people they don’t know in the offline world
– More than a quarter of teens (27 percent) accidentally allowed a virus, spyware, or other software to infect the family computer
– Nearly half of teens (46 percent) of teens admit to downloading music or videos from a free service, which is much more likely to infect the family PC with everything from worms, viruses, ad-ware, spyware, or backdoors that allow people on the Internet to access the computer.
So it’s time to start talking to your kids. No matter what their age, just like you teach them to be safe when they are in public, teach them to be safe online. Start by using the results of this poll to open the conversation.
Ask what their opinion is and tell them what you think. You may need to remind them occasionally of the rules, but I have found that if you keep on them enough about what you expect of them, they follow those rules even when they are not at home.
Click here to view the full report. Stay safe out there!
Tracy
cybermom
mcafee
com (cybermommcafeecom)
Follow me on Twitter @McAfeeCybermom
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Tags: cybermom, Family Safety, kids online behavior, teens
Comments (3)
Jourdan and Joyce, thanks for your great comments. These statistics came from the kids that participated in the study admitting that they had downloaded a virus. These are not to be confused with all kids everywhere. Sorry if I caused confusion, I should have said “half of the teens surveyed”.
Although both of your experiences have been good, you are careful with the service you use. Kids, unfortunately, are not always that careful. They are more likely to search Google for “free music” which results in a huge percentage of sites containing malware.Many parents aren’t as tech savvy or even just as diligent as you both are and don’t keep tabs of what their kids are doing online. Keep up the great work with your kids and thanks again for your great comments!
Sincerely,
Tracy
The statistics in this blog really surprised me. My daughter is 13 and I do watch what she does online. Yes, she has a facebook profile which I have her password for and I also know her passwords for her email as well. I have talked to her about giving out her personal information and just how dangerous it truly is.
However, when downloading songs from free sites, it is rare that you get a virus on your computer even though you are basically downloading them from someone else’s computer. While my daughter has never downloaded songs or movies, I have and have never received a virus and hope that I don’t.
“– Nearly half of teens (46 percent) of teens admit to downloading music or videos from a free service, which is much more likely to infect the family PC with everything from worms, viruses, ad-ware, spyware, or backdoors that allow people on the Internet to access the computer.”
What? This is a mistake. If, for example, your kid downloads a copy of “Steal This Film”, which, as the name would suggest, is available to download free, it is highly improbable your kid will pick up a virus. Rather than installing tools like the one you recommended (which I find, quite frankly, slow computers down) perhaps it would be wiser to help your child distinguish the difference between legitimate and illegitimate services?
Again, there are numerous sources of free music on the internet, such as Jamendo, which is entirely virus free and safe.
And it is also highly likely your child will receive a virus sometime while using a computer.
I recommend that you switch your operating system to Linux. While it is not impervious to viruses, it is free to install and, in it’s history, has had very few actual viruses written for it.
As you said, it’s imperative to teach one’s kids. I totally agree with you with regard to laying a groundwork on what to (or not to!) do on the internet, or in real like, for that matter.
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