LODDON MALLEE - Cyber Safe Kids

INTERNET USE RULES AT HOME – STUDENTS‟ AND PARENTS‟
RESPONSES
According to the student reports, internet use rules are most common for primary school aged
children (86%) and decrease in frequency with the age groups across high school. Over 50% of
year 9-10 students reported that there were no rules at home regarding their internet use. In
addition, the most common rules in student homes regarding internet use were around the
length of time they spent on the internet. Children‟s reports of parents blocking and checking
websites at home was low (11% for grades 4-6 students) and parents checking emails or social
networking profiles even lower. It is positive to note that most students (80%) reported that
they access the internet from a common household space such as the lounge room or study.
To compare students responses with parents responses (and these are not necessarily the
parents of the children who participated), the most common internet rule at home according to
parents was also about length of time on the internet. This is in accord with international
research which also found that the greatest focus of parental rules around internet use was
length of time (Norton Online Family Report, 2010). Parents also reported checking which
websites their children had visited (37%), checking social profiles (31%) and 28% reported
blocking some websites. The rates of checking are lower than other Australian research
(ACMA, 2009) which found that the majority of parents surveyed (approximately 87%)
reported checking their child‟s online activities. This may be due to different phrasing of
questions, but does at least suggest that checking is not a common activity for the parents who
were surveyed in the Bendigo region. Of concern was that 20% of parents reported that they
had no rules regarding internet use, this is well below Australian research which has this figure
at around 1-3% (ACMA, 2009).
Focusing on length of time and checking content is important, however, these rules do not
teach values or set standards of responsible and ethical online behaviours and do not provide
opportunities for parents to teach and guide children‟s development as digital citizens. When
parents do not set guidelines for the way their children should behave online, their children are
left to devise their own guidelines.
In addition, when children were asked about going to websites that they are either not allowed
to or adult only (18+) the rates ranged from 12.3% of primary children to 32.6% for year 7-10
students. Overwhelmingly, children are accessing inappropriate information and pornography
at home (70-76% of reports). From the parent surveys, 75% of parents surveyed reported that
they were concerned to extremely concerned about their children being exposed to online
pornography, and yet from the above student reports they are accessing pornography in their
own homes and few homes have filters or blocks to stop this access.
RECOMMENDATIONS: The presence of at least one internet use rule in the majority of
students‟ homes suggests acknowledgment by parents of the need for boundaries around
internet use. It is of highest importance that ways are found to leverage this recognition of the
59 LMCP Bendigo Region Report