The Average Child Spends Over 2 Hours a Day Online

In new research from huge broadband provider TalkTalk released this week, it has been revealed that the average British child (In this case between the ages of 5 and 15) spends over 2 hours, or 130 minutes a day on the internet. More anonymously, they spend around half an hour of this time doing something that their parents wouldn?t ?approve? of.

62% of children have lied to their parents about the online behaviour and nearly half believe that won?t get found out because their better at hiding their tracks on the internet than their parents are at finding it. Although these tricks may be as simple as just removing browser history when finished online, it?s often enough to confuse parents.

Not that some parents check at all ? 44% have admitted to never checking their children?s browsing history and a quarter have no idea about online content filtering systems. In total kids believe that their parents wouldn?t approve of nearly a third of all of their browsing.

?TalkTalk?s research reveals the predicament facing Britain?s parents,? Claimed Professor and Child Psychologist, Tanya Byron: ?We know the internet is increasingly important in our children?s lives, but many parents are still deeply ignorant about what goes on online. Not surprisingly, too many of us panic and either try to ignore this new technology ? allowing our kids to use it unsupervised ? or ban our kids from using it entirely.?

TalkTalk?s study is coinciding with its Brighter Sparks campaign that?s designed to help parents with some practical knowledge about keeping tracks of their kids browsing habits, regardless of the technology.

If you?re concerned about what your children are doing online take a look at the website for the campaign and also look at our own guides for software that can help you figure out intelligent ways to prevent your kids from viewing unsavoury content.

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