Culture Post: How Parents Feel About – and Manage – Their Teens’ Online Behavior and Screen Time

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Pew Research Center.

Smartphones and social media are now an almost universal feature of teenage life in the United States. More than nine-in-ten U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they have access to a smartphone or use social media, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey. But this increased connectivity can come with challenges for teens – as well as their parents. As part of our research into Americans’ digital lives, the Center also surveyed over 1,000 parents of teens to better understand their experiences with raising teens in the digital age.

Here are seven key findings about parents, teens and digital technology:

1. A majority of parents are concerned about the types of experiences their teen might encounter online.
2. Today’s parents take a wide range of actions to monitor and police their teen’s online behavior.
3. Parents of younger teens tend to take a more active role in monitoring their teen’s digital activities.
4. Most parents are confident they can guide their teen to make good decisions, both online and offline.
5. Parents generally get positive ratings from teens about their efforts to tackle online harassment and bullying.
6. Parents are divided on whether today’s teens face a set of issues completely different from the issues of their youth.
7. Device distractions aren’t unique to teenagers.

To view the entire report from Pew Research Center, click the source link below.

Source: Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/22/how-parents-feel-about-and-manage-their-teens-online-behavior-and-screen-time/

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