Connected devices are more central to the lives of teens and tweens than ever, confirms the McAfee 2022 Connected Families Study, to be released Thursday, for which 15,000 parents and 12,000 children aged 10 to 18 were surveyed in 10 countries including Canada, UK, Mexico, India and Japan. For the purposes of the survey, parents were interviewed alone, then similar questions were asked of their children.
Of the 1,164 Canadian tweens and teens surveyed, 74% own a smartphone. This average is among the lowest of the participating countries (far behind Brazil, for example, where 96% of young people have such a device), but it is nevertheless a significant phenomenon.
Unfortunately, the supervision of young people often leaves something to be desired, according to what can be seen by analyzing the study.
Bad models for security
“Children in Canada have less confidence in their parents to ensure their safety online (Editor’s note: compared to those in the other countries surveyed). And parents lag behind those in the rest of the world when it comes to taking precautions to protect their children,” notes the Canadian version of the McAfee study.
When the agency commissioned by McAfee asked children if they thought their parents knew enough to keep them safe and protect their privacy online, only 57% said yes. And 46% of young Canadians surveyed believe they know more than their parents about life online (compared to 35% for the average of the other countries surveyed).
Obviously, the teenagers of 2022 would not be the first to believe themselves smarter than their parents.
One thing is certain, according to the study, Canadian parents install fewer security measures on their children’s devices than the average of parents in the other countries surveyed. Barely 28% of them limit the sites that can be viewed on computers, for example, compared to 33% in the rest of the world.
Canadian parents generally do not ensure that their children follow certain basic security rules, such as protecting their devices with passwords, changing them periodically, or disabling location sharing for certain software. Snapchat, for example, has an optional feature that lets you know where a user is at all times.
Only 31% of Canadian parents regularly discuss smartphone safety with their children, although this is an ever-evolving area. However, in general, children aged 10 and over consider that their parents are best placed (73%) to discuss these issues with them, far ahead of the school (39%). In other words, young people would be open to such discussions.
Compared to the rest of the world, Canadian parents also supervise their offspring less. Only 22% of them, for example, check their children’s browsing history and emails on their phones, compared to 32% globally. This last point is not necessarily negative, however, since parental monitoring has good sides (especially for the youngest, who are not yet equipped to face the dangers on the Internet), but also less appreciated aspects (the older consider that the preservation of the bond of trust is important).
Cyberbullying, a blind spot
Also according to the 2022 McAfee Connected Families study, 15% of children in Canada have been victims of cyberbullying, which is slightly better than the global average of 17%, and much better than in the United States, where 28% have lived through it.
Unfortunately, young people do not always confide in their parents when this happens. In 20% of cyberbullying cases, Canadian parents (who were present when questions were asked of minors) were unaware of their children’s experiences, a higher percentage than elsewhere in the world, according to McAfee (which does not however quantify this difference in the report of the study).
Of course, tweens and teens still need to be open to talking about it. The McAfee study reveals that young people often cover their tracks on the Internet, whether by erasing their web browser history (26%), deleting conversations in messaging applications (15%), by lying to their parents or omitting certain details of their online lives.
Game consoles matter
The smartphone is the most important device for keeping in touch with family (an opinion shared by 50% of parents and 53% of children), but another screen also has interesting potential, which is underestimated by parents : the video game console.
If 32% of children think that the console is important for the family unit, barely 18% of parents are convinced. This is a difference of 14% (a gap similar to what has been observed in other countries, where it is 16%). Video games can be an effective tool for bringing families together. And it seems that young people are more aware of this than their parents.
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