Starting relationships. Breaking them off. Connecting with strangers on social networks – and meeting them offline. Accessing pornography and nudity online, sharing revealing pictures of themselves on the world wide web, using their smartphones to cheat in tests — Indian teens are stepping high, wide and risky on the information highway. And their parents haven’t a clue what they are up to!
That is the worrying finding of the online habits of Indian teenagers — and crucially, their parents — by Internet security company McAfee. The survey, conducted online on 750 teenagers as well as 757 parents of teenaged children spread across four metros and three mini-metros, has exposed the sharp ‘digital divide’ between present day India’s pre-reform parents for whom the Internet is little more than a work tool, and their teenaged offsprings, who are arguably the country’s first cohort of ‘digital natives’.
This divide shows up sharply in what parents think their kids are doing online — and what they actually do. For instance, 79 per cent of polled parents trusted their kids not to view age-inappropriate content online — but 55 per cent of teens don’t tell their parents what they do, 35 per cent access porn, and 22 per cent use their smartphones to cheat in tests — something which only 12 per cent of parents are aware of.
As a result, most parents don’t know that their teens are engaging in ‘high risk’ behaviour online — often knowingly. 70 per cent of teens polled felt they shouldn’t share their address online — but 40 per cent do so anyway. 74 per cent believe it is dangerous to give out their mobile number online – but 30 per cent still do it.
“Communication is key,” says Anindita Mishra, a Pune-based teacher and blogger who is McAfee’s ‘cybermom’, offering help and advice to parents and kids on avoiding risk online, “I tell parents not to criticise their kids or panic, but try and engage with them, be aware of what they are doing.”
“Cyber-bullying, stalking or predatory behaviour is not confined to the West,” adds Melanie Duca, Director of consumer marketing (APAC) at McAfee, “it exists everywhere.”
And networked Indian teens are increasingly at risk. Nearly all surveyed teens had at least one social media account, often enrolling at 13 years or even younger, by lying about their age. They spend 86 per cent of their online time on Facebook, and nearly half (45 per cent) access it on their phones, unsupervised. And crucially, 89 per cent of the kids felt that social networks were ‘safe’.
More than half — 58 per cent — admitted they actively use concealment techniques to hide their browsing from their parents!