Parents monitor kids’ use of media, finds survey

Parents in the United States say they are gaining control over their children’s exposure to media.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

22 June, 2007:

According to a survey conducted across the United States by the Kaiser Family Association, 65% of parents said they “closely monitor” their children’s media use, while 18% think they “should do more.”

The Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed 1,008 parents of children aged 2-17.

The survey report titled Parents, Children and Media: A Kaiser Family Foundation Survey showed that over 70% of parents claimed to know “a lot” about their children’s online activities.

Vicky Rideout, vice-president and director of Kaiser’s Programme for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health, says that while parents are still concerned about a lot of what they see in the media, most are surprisingly confident that they have got a handle on what their own children are seeing and doing – even when it comes to the internet.

However, 65% of parents are still worried about their children’s exposure to inappropriate media content in general.

The survey found that the proportion of parents who say they are “very concerned” that their children are exposed to inappropriate content has dropped since 1998 – from 67% to 51% for sexual content, from 62% to 46% for violence, and from 59% to 41% for adult language.

According to the survey, parents showed confidence that they can monitor their children’s online activities. While almost 90% of parents whose children engage in internet activities say they check their children’s instant messaging ‘buddy lists,’ over 80% review their children’s profiles on social networking sites and about three-quarters look to see what websites their children visit after they go online.

Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, a coalition that includes some television networks and opposes government control of television programming, said the survey shows that intervention by the government is misguided.

However, the survey found that parents still have significant concerns about children’s exposure to inappropriate media content in general. Two-thirds said they are “very concerned” that children in this country are exposed to too much inappropriate content in the media, and a similar fraction favours government regulations to limit television content during early evening hours.

Parents belonging to minorities expressed the most concern – Black and Hispanic parents were more likely than whites to say they are “very concerned” about their children’s exposure to sex, violence and adult language in the media.

The report comes at a time when United States Congress again is preparing to take up the issue of violence in the media.