Do you supervise your child’s social media activity online? That is the question that a new DCU survey asked the nation’s parents.
Research conducted by the National Anti-Bullying Centre in DCU found that less than 20% of parents supervise their children’s use of social media.
The study found that almost half of the surveyed parents did not know how to block inappropriate content on the web, and many were unfamiliar with “younger” social networks such as Kik and Snapchat.
James O’Higgins of the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre says it is vital parents get to know where their kids are “hanging out” online.
“In real life, outside the internet, parents wouldn’t bring their kids to a park and leave them in a playground to play and go to the pub to socialise in a different space.
“Certainly, unless they made sure the kids were safe and supervised and had the tools to protect themselves.”