Fewer than one in five parents enforcing limits on kids’ screen time
Survey of schoolchildren reveals they're very aware of online safety - but only one in five families are setting and enforcing limits on the amount of time children spend online
HALF of families are setting limits on time kids spend online and playing games, a survey has revealed, but two thirds of those then fail to enforce those limits.
A further third of families don't even set limits in the first place. This means only one in five children in the UK are having meaningful limits on their time spent looking at screens and interacting online by their parents or guardians.
A survey commissioned by the Digital Schoolhouse programme, organised by games industry trade body Ukie also revealed that only one in three children say their parents either user parental control settings on electronic devices or help them check and set up privacy settings on their own accounts.
There was a serious gender gap too, with 51 per cent of boys reporting no parental involvement whatsoever when it came to such settings, compared to a third of girls who reported no involvement.
63 per cent of children reported that their parents had spoken to them about online safety, while 77 per cent of pupils know where to find information on how to play games safely and responsibly.
Shahneila Saeed, director of Digital Schoolhouse and head of education at Ukie said: “We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to e-safety. The report and feedback from pupils has indicated that many parents have a knowledge gap when it comes to certain e-safety measures, particularly around privacy controls."
The students surveyed are comfortable managing their own safety, however.
Only 12 per cent thought safety controls in games, such as the ability to disable social features, were hard to find or understand.
90 per cent of pupils surveyed said they recognised online safety was an important concern, and only 2 per cent of the over 2,000 British schoolchildren surveyed said they had "no confidence" in their own abilities to keep themselves safe.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.