Teens and the Internet

A new research study conducted by CyberSentinel reveals that the average teenager spend an average of up to 40 hours a week online. Think about that for a minute. That is as much time as a full time job! One hour and 40 minutes is spent looking at pornography, which adds up to 87 hours a year. The study also identified other major time blocks in that 40 hour total:
-90 minutes looking at dieting and weight loss websites.
-68 minutes is spent exploring cosmetic surgery websites.
-3 hours and 10 minutes researching homework assignments.
-100 minutes downloading music.
-122 minutes looking at clips on YouTube.
-82 minutes looking at health websites for information on illness, puberty, growing pains, pregnancy, and contraceptives.
While I would expect to find teenagers exploring all of this on the web, for good and for bad, the amount of time is what I find so disturbing. Many kids are going to find some topics hard to talk to Mom and Dad about, and so they turn to the internet. But it also points to the need for parents to take the initiative to talk about these topics with their teens. In a survey just conducted by my church's youth ministry, teens almost unanimously indicated that the least likely source of information on sex was their own parents.
The CyberSentinel study also found students will spend up to 9 hours a week on social networkings sites like Facebook, chatrooms, and forums. One in four teenagers regularly talk to strangers online and think it is harmless. While talking to friends they know can be fun for your teens, seeking out new friends can be frought with danger.
Do you know how much time your teen is spending on line? How closely do you monitor the amount of time and where they are going online? The teens in this study said that they are left alone with the computer for up to 2 hours a day. Also a concern is that a third of teens said their most common place for surfing is in their bedroom.
The news was not all bad in this study. Two thirds of teens said their parents have spoken to them about what they should and shouln't look at online. And 45% of teens said they will talk to their parents if they are worried about anything they may have accidently accessed, such as self-harm, drugs, crime, or sex. But a third also admitted to hiding some fo the websites they ahve been visiting.
This study is a clear warning shot for every parent to pay attention to what their teens are doing online and to be involved in their lives.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul