Parents feel they are losing control of their child’s tech

Our conversations with other parents showed that none of us were totally sure what our kids were up to online. And we all agreed that they were spending too much time on screens. The consensus in these conversations was that we’d seen changes in their mood, behaviour or choice of activities.

These chats would follow a similar pattern of compare, despair, and not knowing what to do.

So we ran surveys* and focus groups to get a better idea of what other parents’ experiences were.

This is what we found:

• 78% of parents were not fully confident they’d set adequate content and privacy controls on their child's device/s

• 80% were worried their child was addicted to their device/s

• 85% thought their child's tech or screen use sometimes interfered with family life

• 56% thought their child's behaviour had got worse since having a device.

• 54% let their child install apps without needing parental approval

• 80% worry about what their child is doing or seeing online

Of parents who hadn’t set controls, the reasons were:

• Too confusing – 38%

• I just haven't got round to it yet – 16%

• I trust my child – 21%

• I don't think it's necessary 7%

• I don't think they work 18%

Finally, we’re pleased to say that a whopping 90% of parents said they would find it useful to see short explainer videos about how to better protect their kids online. This is what we are working on.

We’re creating short, explainer videos for parents that show you how to set app, screentime, privacy and content restrictions on iPhones and Android.

If there is anything you would like more guidance about, please get in touch: info@teched-off.com. In the meantime, we’re working on the next batch of video guides.

* We asked the first question via a YouGov survey of 1,332 parents. The rest of the questions surveyed 273 parents via a combination of Survey Monkey and Facebook.