One in five (20%)* parents in Great Britain believe their child’s school grades are suffering considerably due to the amount of time spent on social networking and other non-educational websites according to worrying online research commissioned by phone and broadband provider, TalkTalk.
The study, which examined internet usage amongst children aged 6-17, found that a staggering 47% of parents felt that the use of social networking and other non-educational websites was having a negative impact on their children’s academic performance to some extent. This was worse amongst older children, with 62% of parents with children aged 12-17 admitting they are concerned about their children’s grades slipping as a result of online distractions.
Despite most social networking websites having a ‘no minors’ policy, a significant 36% of parents of children aged 6-11 said they were also worried about the impact time spent on sites like that might have.
And there may be reason to, as TalkTalk research** has also found that 25% of children aged 6-11 spend an hour a day on social networking sites, while only 10% use the internet daily for homework. Children aged 12-17 who use the internet daily for homework and social networking rank the two as equally important in terms of their time, spending between an hour or two a day on each.
But despite these concerns, just over half of parents admit they don’t know exactly what their children are doing online, though 76% of parents did say they thought they should take responsibility for introducing restrictions on home PCs**.
The study coincides with the launch of HomeSafe, the UK’s first network level internet security service from TalkTalk. It also allows parents greater control than ever before over all devices in the household, by being able to block common sources of homework distraction such as online gaming sites at designated times of the day. HomeSafe is an opt-in service that works in the background to block viruses and undesired internet content before it reaches the home, meaning there’s no need to set up individual controls on different devices.
Key findings
- Kids are spending a large amount of time online, averaging two hours and six minutes a day**
- Just under half of parents admitted to knowing exactly what their child was doing on the internet
- Nearly half of 6-11 year olds spend one to two hours per day using the internet to play games and a quarter spend an hour a day on social networking sites. This compares to only 10% using the internet daily for homework
- Half of kids aged 12-17 years use social networking sites every day and nearly 40% listen to music, whilst only 16% use the internet daily for homework.
- Of the 12-17 year olds that use the internet daily for both homework and social networking, an equal amount of time is spent on both (one to two hours on average).
Will Gardner, Chief Executive of Childnet, said “Children under the age of 15 have never known a world without the internet. It’s revolutionised how they learn, play and communicate with each other. We are delighted that TalkTalk is offering this new system and support the introduction and offering of such tools, at no cost to the user, that can really help support parents to parent online as well as offline”.
Justine Roberts, Co-Founder and CEO of Mumsnet, said "Helping our children stay safe on the internet is a new challenge for this generation of parents and anything that makes that easier has got to be a good thing".
Celebrity mum, Fiona Phillips, Talk Talk’s ambassador for HomeSafe comments: “My two boys are nine and 12 and are always on the internet. Whilst I encourage the use of it for fun, games and socialising, it’s important to find a healthy balance, so important activities like homework do not get rushed or dropped altogether. The launch of HomeSafe has come at a great time for my kids, as it means I can take control of our home’s internet and have peace-of-mind that they’re enjoying it in a safe environment”.
Talk Talk’s findings corroborate earlier research from the JCA, which polled 500 teachers on what they believed the effects of social networking had been on academic performance. Half of the teachers believed pupils’ fixation on social networking was affecting their ability to concentrate in class and that 7 in 10 thought children are becoming more and more obsessed with Facebook, Twitter and Myspace***, suggesting this is an area of on-going concern.
*YouGov survey total sample size was 4427 adults, of which 710 were parents of children aged 6 to 17. Fieldwork was undertaken between 15th - 18th April 2011. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
** Talk Talk Three Generations survey of 19,828 people conducted on 17th March 2011