As part of our Online Wellbeing Family Guide we conducted research about the online habits of Irish families.
We were delighted to launch our Online Wellbeing Family Guide last week. This partnership with CyberSafeIreland is extremely important to us. We value our readers and are committed to always providing purposeful content for families in Ireland. The area of online safety is one that encompasses huge levels of anxiety for parents and we wanted to empower parents with the knowledge, advice and tools to navigate this area in a positive way.
As part of this initiative Family Friendly HQ conducted research about the online habits within Irish households. We had a huge response and the statistics are incredibly insightful. The findings of the research helped us shape our expert content in this new area of the website to ensure that your concerns are being met with solutions.
According to our research 54% of parents said their children have used a smartphone before, but 29% do not have parental controls on devices. We discovered that a lot of parents simply do not know where to start and that many of them are unaware of what their children are watching and have access to. As part of our Online Wellbeing Family Guide we have provided a useful tool to explain the parental controls and security settings available within specific apps that children are using today.
Children of all ages now have access to smart devices in one form or another. 37% of parents we surveyed told us that their child has at least one smart advice. Some parents use You Tube to help make public transport journeys or waiting room experiences more manageable. We worked with CyberSafeIreland to explain the dangers of You Tube and how parents can avail of it in a way that does not compromise our children's safety.
21% of those surveyed told us that their children do not allow them on their smart device. This is where things get tricky. According to CyberSafeIreland communication is key when it comes to online safety, but knowing how to approach the subject in a respectful and proactive way can be challenging for parents. We worked with them on this post about discussing online safety with your children in a way that doesn't scare them.
The research showed us that many parents feel in the dark about the online world their children are participating in. Many of them are unfamiliar with apps like TikTok, Instagram and Tinder and therefore do not know what is normal and what is concerning. According to CyberSafeIreland it is important to monitor what your children are doing on their devices to ensure they are not experiencing unsuitable content.
It was great to see that 89% of parents do impose time constraints on their children’s daily screen time but 28% admitted to their child having a negative experience on their smart device and 67% said their children were reluctant to tell them about this experience. For this reason we have created this short animated video to help bring all of these elements together and offer a helpful balanced approach to how your family experiences the online world.
