Alarm as parents leave children as young as four to browse web unsupervised
New research published by price comparison site uSwitch has shown that the age at which parents are leaving their children alone to browse the internet is falling fast; from children in their tweens to kids as young as four.
Parents with children aged one to six reported first allowing unsupervised internet usage at age four and a half on average, rising to 11 amongst parents of children aged 13 to 17.
uSwitch broadband expert Ewan Taylor-Gibson said: “As technology evolves, so too do the tools designed to safeguard kids online - but there are evident concerns from mums and dads that these are not up to scratch, or at least not fit to protect teens.”
The survey also found that more than half of those quizzed were ‘extremely’ or ‘quite’ concerned about their children accessing ‘inappropriate content’, with 36 per cent worrying about the impact on social skills and 31 per cent concerned about the impact on mental health.
Parents of teenagers share these concerns, with 13 per cent reporting that their offspring are ‘oversharing’ online and 15 per cent worried about an overuse of swearing.