Parents and Teens:Filters & Content Creation

Parental Empowerment and Convergence DialogueInternet Education FoundationFebruary 17, 2006Washington, DC

Feb. 17, 2006 -- Washington, DCParents & Teens: IEF

Methodology

• Interviewed 1100 parent-child pairs via telephone

• Sample pulled from RDD samples

• 4 focus groups with MS & HS students

• Tracking surveys of Adult Americans

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Teen & Parent Internet Basics• 87% of teens 12-17 online• 80% of parents online• 68% of all adult Americans online• Of 13% of teens who don’t go online, 1 in 10 say that

fears, bad experiences, or their parents keep them offline

• 47% of offline teens once went online • 50% of online Americans have broadband• Overall, there are more American adults who are not

online (32%), than who have dial-up internet access (28%).

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Protecting Teens Online

• Filtering—54% of families filter• Public computing location—73%• House internet rules—64%• 62% of parents….33% of teens say

they/their parents check up on teens after they go online

• Filtering up, others stable

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Demographic Differences

• Younger parents & parents of younger teens are more likely to filter/monitor

• African-American and Hispanic parents generally report greater levels of all rules/observational behavior

• Online parents monitor more

Feb. 17, 2006 -- Washington, DCParents & Teens: IEF

Online Behavior Parent & Teen Attitudes

• 81% of parents and 79% of teens agree that kids are not as careful as they should be about the information they give out online

• 62% of parents and 62% of teens agree that kids do things online that they wouldn’t want their parents to know about

• Overall, most parents believe that the internet is a good thing for their children

Feb. 17, 2006 -- Washington, DCParents & Teens: IEF

Parents Plead: Make it Easy For Us

• Parents overwhelmed• Less Tech Savvy

– 82% of online teens have helped an adult do something online that they couldn’t do with out assistance

– 72% of online adults have helped another adult

– 54% of online adults have helped a child (under 18)

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Teens and Content Creation

• 57% of online teens have created content for the internet– 19% Blog– Website: personal (22%), group or school assignment (32%)– 33% Share original content

• Artwork • Photos• Writing• Videos• Songs

– 19% Remix content found online into a new creation

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Creation of Content by Adults

• 44% of American adults have created some kind of content

• 21% have posted photos to a website

• 17% have posted written material

• 18% have remixed content they’ve found online into a new creation

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Content creation by Adults (2)

• 13% maintain a personal website• 9% have a blog• 7% have used a webcam to post live images to a website• 6% have posted artwork• 5% have posted an audio file to a website• 3% have posted a video file

Using the Content• 11% have an iPod or mp3 player• Of those, 27% have downloaded a podcast or internet radio

program so they could listen to it later.• 27% of adults read blogs, 38% of teens do

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Final Thoughts

• Parents believe in the internet, and think it is good for their kids…

• …but they also worry about how their teens are using it

• And they want tools to help keep their teens safe– Tools must be flexible…– …but simple and easy to use

• Amateur content is already a big issue and is only going to get bigger

Feb. 17, 2006 – Washington, DCParents and Teens: IEF

Related Pew Internet Reports

• Protecting Teens Online

• Teens and Technology

• Teen Content Creators and Consumers

• Content Creation Online

Amanda LenhartSenior Research SpecialistPew Internet & American Life Project

http://www.pewinternet.org