According to the latest research at esafety.gov.au, parents have a number of concerns about their child being online. The three most common concerns cited are: exposure to inappropriate content other than pornography (38%), contact with strangers (37%) and being bullied online (34%). This is largely unchanged from 2016, with the exception of ‘excessive use’, which is no longer in the top responses.
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Parental Concerns
More stats from the Esafety Commission 28% of parents reported being aware of their child having a negative online experience in the last 12 months. This increased significantly in line with the age of the child. Among parents of 13 to 17-year olds, awareness increased to 37%. There was no difference in awareness of negative experiences based on the child’s gender. Of parents aware that their child had a negative online experience, nearly 66% reported finding out about the experience from their child, 19% finding out themselves and 6% from their child’s school or teacher. Parents identified that a classmate (31%) or a friend (22%) was responsible for their child’s negative online experience while a further 28% indicated that a stranger was responsible.
