Parental Monitoring Software

This is part 8 of our statistics series.

• A majority of teens (58 percent) don’t think posting photos or other personal info on social networking sites is unsafe. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. survey_results_2007.ppt).

• About half (49 percent) are unconcerned posting personal info online might negatively affect their future. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. survey_results_2007.ppt).

• Teens readily post personal info online. 64 percent post photos or videos of themselves, while more than half (58 percent) post info about where they live. Females are far more likely than male teens to post personal photos or videos of themselves (70 percent vs. 58 percent). (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. survey_results_2007.ppt).

• Nearly one in 10 teens (8 percent ) has posted his or her cell phone number online. (National teen Internet survey was funded by Cox Communications in partnership with NCMEC and John Walsh and was conducted in March 2007 among 1,070 teens age 13 to 17. The research was conducted online by TRU. survey_results_2007.ppt).

• Teens who have online profiles are generally more likely to say it is okay to give out certain pieces of personal information in offline situations than they are to have that information actually posted to their profile. Teens with online profiles have a greater tendency to say it is fine to share where they go to school, their IM screen name, email address, last name and cell phone number with someone they met at a party, when compared with the percentage who actually post that information online. The only piece of information they are more likely to share online rather than in person with a new acquaintance is the city and state where they live. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 SNS_Report_Final.pdf).

• Some 23 percent of teen profile creators say it would be “pretty easy” for someone to find out who they are from the information posted to their profile, and 40 percent of teens with profiles online think that it would be hard for someone to find out who they are from their profile, but that they could eventually be found online. Another 36 percent say they think it would be “very difficult” for someone to identify them from their online profile. (Lenhart, Amanda and Madden, Mary. Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 18, 2007 SNS_Report_Final.pdf).

• 49 percent of high school students have posted personal information on their Web pages — such as name, age, or address — that could assist a stranger to identify or locate them (Market Wire. November 6, 2006. i-SAFE Inc. December 12, 2006 release_id=180330).

• 81 percent of parents of online teens say that teens are not careful enough when giving out information about themselves online and 79 percent of online teens agree with this (Family, Friends and Community: Protecting Teens Online, Amanda Lenhart, March 17, 2005, Pew Internet & American Life Project, December 12, 2005, report_display.asp).

• About four million teens (19 percent) of 12- to 17-year olds who use the Internet-have created some sort of blog, according to a November 2005 Pew Internet & American Life Project study.

This statistics series is provided by Parental Monitoring Software. We quote and link to sources used whenever possible.

If you find these statistics alarming and you have kids who use the internet, we strongly recommend using a monitoring software product wherever possible.