A survey by the technology arm of the United Nations, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has found that many parents worldwide have little idea of what their children are up to online.
Ask parents and 92 per cent of them will say they have set up ground rules about using the Internet, but ask the young ones and only 66 per cent say these rules exist. The survey also revealed that most parents are clueless if their child has been victims of cyber-bullying, Internet paedophiles and online fraudsters or been exposed to pornography.
Other alarming findings by the ITU include:
1) 3 out of 5 children and teenagers talk in chat rooms on daily basis.
2) 1 in 3 teenage girls who go online have been harassed in chatrooms, but only 7 per cent of them tell their parents because they do not want to lose their Internet access.
3) 1 in 5 children are targeted by a sexual predator or paedophile each year.
4) 3 our of 4 children are willing to share personal information about themselves and their families in exchange for goods and services.
With such worrying statistics, it is clear that all parents should teach their kids about internet safety.
Monitor your child's online activities and maintain a solid communication base between your kids and yourself, to ensure that they will talk to you about such problems. It is only with your support that these incidents can decrease.
For more information on how to protect your child from cyber-bullying, click here.
