92 Percent of Parents are Facebook Friends with Their Kids

In our Internet-obsessed culture, it’s natural that the discussion around Facebook and our youth continues to dominate. Whether it’s the presence of Facebook depression or the rise in underage ‘Facebookers,’ there’s no doubt that kids of all ages will continue using this social network and will thus spawn greater need for parental monitoring. 

But how closely are these kids being monitored? Pretty closely, according to a recent report by market research firm Lab42, with 43 percent of parents are keeping a close eye on their kids’ activity by checking their pages on a daily basis and 31 percent checking four to five times a week. And if they’re not checking, they at least can get a bird’s eye view with 92 percent of parents being friends with their kids online and 72 percent even having their kids’ passwords. 

While security would seem to be the number one reason why parents keep tabs on their kids’ Facebook activity, “interfering with homework/chores” comprised 56 percent of the vote. The second reason was that parents are worried that their kids “don’t spend enough time with friends and family” (45 percent) and coming in third was the security issue and parents being concerned about them meeting strangers online (41 percent). 

It seems like kids would be resentful of their parents monitoring their behavior, but the study also showed that the numbers of kids and parents commenting on each other’s photos and writing on each other’s walls were split evenly at around 50 percent. 

In spite of the interactivity and online engagement between parent and child, 24 percent of parents still reported being made fun of by their kids for their lack of Facebook proficiency. 

Here’s the full infographic with some more interesting stats from the study:

If your child is on Facebook, how often do you check in on them?

 

 

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