Parents concerns about television and online contents

With the advancements in media technologies and increase in the number of media devices, children spend more time in front of these devices. Ofcom’s study details the attitudes and concerns of parents regarding their children’s media adoption and usage. Over the past years, television, radio and the internet have influenced the lives of the children greatly. Mobile phone use and gaming habits among children are other major concern of the parents. A detailed survey about the attitude of parents towards the children’s use of media was carried out and the results were furnished by Ofcom. This section covers Parental concerns about television content, internet, gaming, and mobile phones. Analysis from Ofcom research into parents’ and teenagers’ opinions and concerns on pre-watershed television programming were used to prepare the report.

The findings suggest that parents of children aged 5-15 are more bothered about the television contents viewed by the children than other media. 31% of parents were concerned about television contents while just 23% were concerned about internet, 16% about mobile phones, 19% about games and 5% about radio contents. Since 2010, the levels of concerns among parents have remained the same. Most of the parents said that they were not bothered about the television contents and different programs their children watched before 9pm. Parents worried about contents like violence, sexual contents and offensive language. Of these, 20% of the parents were concerned about violence, 17% were bothered about sexually explicit content, 17% about offensive language, 9% about unsuitable contents for younger children and 9% about sexual contents that were unsuitable for younger children. Parents were more concerned about music videos with sexual content. Films, soaps and reality shows were the programs that parents were more conc
erned about.

In comparison to 2010 survey results, concern levels about television contents in parents of children 8-11s and 12-15 remains unchanged. However, parents of children aged 5-7s claims that they are not much concerned about their children’s media use.

When it comes to internet use, parents are less concerned about their children’s online activities. They believe children are taught how to use internet safely at school. Four in five parents agree that their children are taught at school as how to use the internet safely. Agreement level increased with the age group. 11% of parents of children aged 5-15 does not go with this statement.

65% of parents find the advantages of internet more than the disadvantages of the internet. Parents of children 12-15 agree the statement more than parents of children 5-7. However, 15% of parents of age 5-15 disagree with this claim. Agreement levels among parents regardless of age and gender are the same. 81% trust their children about their internet use. The figure is the same, regardless of age, gender type and socio-economic group. Half of the parents of age groups 5-15 believed that their children know about internet better than them. 5-7s are less concerned about the media contents their children use than the parents of children aged 8-11s and 12-15s. To understand the extent of concerns among the parents they were asked a number of questions.

Minority of the parents were concerned about their children’s mobile phone use. Specific questions regarding the children’s mobile phone use were asked to the parents of children aged 5-15. Parents are less concerned about what their child sees pr reads on the mobile phone. They are bothered about whom their child contacts and talks to. Parents of children among all the age groups, gender and socio-economic group were bothered about their children’s mobile phone usage. 21% of parents of children aged 8-11 and 24% of parents of children aged 12-15 are concerned about their child giving personal details to unsuitable people.

Parents of children who play games over the device were surveyed to understand their level of concerns. 19% of parents of children aged 5-15 were bothered about the contents of the games. Parents aged 12-15 and 8-11s are more concerned about their children’s gaming activities than parents of 5-7. Since boys of the every age group play games more than the girls, the level of concerns in parents by the gender of the child differs. Parents of boys of specific age group are more concerned than parents of girls. 14% of the parents 5-15 are worried about the person whom their child plays online games with. There are no differences with household socio-economic group.