23% of Aussie Moms Admit Their Kids Know More About the Internet

The digital divide in Australia is felt not only within economic classes, but also right inside Australian homes.

A survey by AVG, distributor of Anti-Virus and Internet security products in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, showed that in Australia, 23 per cent of mothers admit that their kids are more knowledgeable about the Internet than them.

On the other end, only 17 per cent of Aussie parents and 10 per cent of Kiwi parents believe they know more about the Internet than the children aged 10 to 13.

As a result, only 54 per cent of Australian parents and 61 per cent of New Zealand parents check into their children's computers to see the sites that their kids enter. Only 43 per cent of Aussie mums and dads and 48 per cent of their New Zealand counterparts logged onto the social media profile of their children.

Besides spending time in social networking sites such as Facebook, 28 per cent of Aussie and 21 per cent of Kiwi kids in the 10-13 age group spend an average of more than one hour daily on game consoles.

To understand better the impact of technology on the youth, particularly the tweens group, AVG commissioned Digital Maturity to conduct a survey. The study showed that while these young people have the technological capacity to navigate the social networking sites, they lack adult reasoning for some of the complex social situations found in some of the social networking portals.

"The phenomenon creates a situation where teens are determining the rules of engagement and the result is an environment that is often devoid of basic social courtesies and ethics," observed AVG Security Advisor Michael McKinnon.

"Adults often take for granted the decades of daily, hourly, minute-by-minute training we call upon every time we engaged with other people. And not even we can navigate social situations without having to reconcile a host of complex issues, from simple etiquette to gross invasions of privacy, sexual inappropriateness and social bias," he added.

Mr McKinnon encouraged parents to help their tweens develop skills to under online networks with confidence and for them to discuss if an issue arises.

"Mutual respect for openness and privacy within a family is a fine line to be negotiated, be it in the real or cyber world. We know that to protect children throughout their lives, parents have to engage, set boundaries and help kids navigate bother their physical and online societies," Mr McKinnon said.