Parents, Teens and Digital Monitoring: New Survey Findings From Pew Research

From Pew Research:

A Pew Research Center survey of parents of 13- to 17-year-olds finds that today’s parents1 take a wide range of actions to monitor their teen’s online lives and to encourage their child to use technology in an appropriate and responsible manner.
Most parents check what their teen does online and on social media and talk with them about acceptable online behavior. Moreover, digital technology has become so central to teens’ lives that a significant share of parents now employ a new tool to enforce family rules: “digitally grounding” misbehaving kids. Some 65% of parents have taken their teen’s cellphone or internet privileges away as a punishment.
When it comes to monitoring their child’s digital use and interactions, parents tend to take a hands-on approach to monitoring what their children do:

• 61% of parents say they have ever checked which websites their teen visits.
• 60% have ever checked their teen’s social media profiles.
• 56% have ever friended or followed their teen on Facebook, Twitter or some other social media platform.
• 48% have ever looked through their teen’s phone call records or text messages.

In addition, nearly half (48%) of parents know the password to their teen’s email account, while 43% know the password to their teen’s cellphone and 35% know the password to at least one of their teen’s social media accounts.

When it comes to monitoring their child’s digital use and interactions, parents tend to take a hands-on approach to monitoring what their children do:
61% of parents say they have ever checked which websites their teen visits.
60% have ever checked their teen’s social media profiles.
56% have ever friended or followed their teen on Facebook, Twitter or some other social media platform.
48% have ever looked through their teen’s phone call records or text messages.
In addition, nearly half (48%) of parents know the password to their teen’s email account, while 43% know the password to their teen’s cellphone and 35% know the password to at least one of their teen’s social media accounts.

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