Parents not doing enough to protect children online

Parents are not taking enough precautions to protect their children online, according to a new study.

Three quarters of children under 15 are allowed to use social networking sites, but just 11% of their parents check privacy settings and ensure their child’s online activity is safe.

The study of 1,345 parents by MyVoucherCodes found that although they let their children use social networking sites, 48% of parents said they did not know what their children were doing online.

Most parents surveyed admitted they didn’t know information could be accessed by strangers if it wasn’t monitored, but one in four parents said they trusted their children to keep themselves safe online.

Only 2% of parents didn’t allow their children to use social networking sites at all, with almost half of them saying they thought it would affect their child’s education.

The most popular social networking sites and platforms are Facebook (79%), closely follwed by Bebo (77%), MSN (73%), MySpace (66%) and Twitter (53%)

Facebook say the minimum recommended age to join the site is 13 but one in ten parents  allowed their child to lie about their age in order to access the site.
 
MD of MyVoucherCodes Mark Pearson said: “I think that it is very important for children to be able to use these sites to an extent because it is a great way for them to keep in contact with their friends, but it is vital that children are monitored and privacy settings are kept in check to ensure no personal information is accessible to strangers.”