Symantec’s OnlineFamily.Norton division has confirmed a parent’s major fear: Kids are using the Internet to get information about sex.
Queries for “sex” (No. 4) and “porn” (No. 5) registered on the search index of OnlineFamily.Norton, a free service used by parents to track their children’s online activities.
This should serve as a “red flag” to parents to be not only vigilant about their kids’ web surfing habits but to also be there for them when they start asking questions about sex so they don’t look elsewhere for information, warns Norton.
The company gathered the data from February 2 to December 4 this year by tracking 14.6 million searches by kids 18 years and below.
If it’s any consolation to worried parents, sex and porn were thankfully not the main thing on their kids’ minds based on Norton’s data. YouTube, Google, and Facebook were the top searches of kids for 2009.
Kids spent most of their time online (30 percent) searching about music-related topics. TV and movies came in next at 12 percent. Michael Jackson was the most searched celebrity online, followed by Taylor Swift. “Twilight” also figured prominently on the list.
Even if YouTube, Google, and Facebook are for the most part wholesome, Norton advises parents to discuss with their kids what is considered appropriate or inappropriate content on the web, particularly when the kids start interacting on social networking sites.
Most parents are clueless
Eight out of 10 parents across the United States have no idea what their children are doing online.
According to a report released by the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, 81 percent of the parents admitted that children aged 9-17 access various websites without adult supervision. Sixty-six percent of these kids have profiles on MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites.
Based on the report, sexual predators and pornography are the top worries of parents whose kids use the Internet unsupervised. Thirteen percent of the parents admitted not taking the necessary precautions to ensure their children’s online safety, such as disabling pop-ups, monitoring their children’s profiles on social networking sites, checking the browsing history, blocking unwanted websites, and installing child-safe software.
While there are federal laws that limit children’s access to undesirable content and enforce penalties for online predators, it is still important for parents to strictly monitor what their kids are doing in cyberspace, says Matthew Davis, director of .S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
Boys more curious about sex
The Norton tracker revealed that 12 percent of the boys searched for adult content online compared to only 2 percent of the girls.
There is also a slight difference in search preferences between boys and girls. Searches for “sex” and “porn” came in at No. 4 and 5 for boys, respectively, while for girls, “Taylor Swift” was at the No. 4 slot followed by “sex.”
YouTube, Google, and Facebook remained the overall top three searches for kids, but for those in the 13-18 age bracket, “sex” and “MySpace” were at No. 4 and 5, respectively, while the 8-12 year olds’ 4th and 5th top searches were “sex” and “Club Penguin.”
“Norton Safety Minder” occupied the No. 46 slot, an indication that kids are also curious as to how the program is tracking their online activities, says Norton.
How to protect your kids
Lindsay Lyon of US News & World Report, shares tips on how concerned parents can protect their children from the dangers of using social networking sites like MySpace.
How do you know if your child is guilty of viewing pornographic content online or at risk from online predators? The Federal Bureau of Investigation provides the answers in “A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety.”
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