Internet Safety Statistics & Digital Citizenship Tips
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Internet Safety Statistics & Digital Citizenship Tips
., start learning from this page to earn points towards a Starbucks gift card!*
Hello, I'm Josh, the founder of SmartSocial.com.
Don't leave this page until you fill out our feedback form that will appear after you learn from the resources...
What is the Digital Safety Survey?
Over the past 4 years, we have created 37 digital safety app guides helping to keep students safe. We created a Digital Safety Survey so our readers could help us understand their biggest frustrations and needs so we can better serve parents and educators.
Our survey questions
- What are the ages of your students?
- What is your biggest question/concern with regards to digital safety?
- What is the scariest part about your students/kids being online?
- What apps are your kids using?
Who completed our Digital Safety Survey?
- 59.4% - Parents
- 48.5% - Educators
- 4% - Law Enforcement
- 10.9% - Other
What ages are the students that they work with?
- 47.1% - Elementary
- 47.1% - Middle School
- 13.7% - Jr High School
- 37.3% - High School
- 14.7% - Multiple
- 5.9% - Other
What apps are their students using the most?
- 72.5% - YouTube
- 66.7% - Snapchat
- 60.8% - Instagram
- 45.1% - Minecraft
- 28.4% - Facebook
- 24.5% - Musically
- 23.5% - Twitter
- 20.6% - Pokémon Go
- 19.6% - Kik Messenger
- 19.6% - Pinterest
- 10.8% - Finstagram
- 7.8% - Periscope
- 5.9% - Tumblr
- 5.9% - Other apps
- 4.9% - ooVoo
What is their biggest concern?
- Online privacy
- Kids don’t know that something has the potential to be dangerous
- Teaching kids the good/ positive side of social media?
- Helping them to make wise, safe & smart long term decisions about what they post
- What it's doing to their brains
- What are they actually doing online when I’m not looking?
- Teaching them that Snapchat does not disappear
- Online bullying/cyberbullying
- Predators
- Keeping up with all the new apps
- Helping students to say no to well-known apps that are unsafe
- Helping them to turn it off and transition to productive things
- Blocking access to unsafe sites
- Getting students to ask/talk to parents about social media
- Sharing personally identifiable information without them knowing
- Keeping kids safe at other people’s houses
What is the scariest part of their students being online?
- Predators/bullying
- Homework
- Giving out too much info
- Info not being secure (though apps claim it is)
- People taking advantage of my kids online
- Lack of wisdom (and not wanting to listen to their parents)
- Parents have lack of knowledge
- All of the new apps that pop up
- Wasting time online that is not productive and can’t get it back
- Not knowing who is contacting my daughter
- Anxiety my kids might feel from online posts of others
- Kids living a double life and not telling parents what happens in their digital life (they only share physical life events)
- When do we let go and give them freedom?
- Kids seem to self-destruct and go around safety restrictions every time
- Leaving a trace that can harm them later in life
Internet safety statistics
- 92% of teens post their real name on their online profiles
- 58% of teens don’t think posting personal info online is unsafe
- 69% of teens regularly receive personal messages online from strangers and most of them don’t tell a trusted adult
Source: Online Safety Site
Digital safety in the news
Online risks are everyday events for teens -- but they rarely tell their parents. Forbes
Parents are desperately looking for ways to protect teens from online predators, bullies, and their own poor decision making. NPR
Why should parents care?
- Teens spend a lot of time online and on a mobile device, daily. Parents tend to underestimate how often teens encounter online risks
- A lot of teens refrain from telling an adult about dangerous online activities because they fear the adult will react negatively
What can parents do?
- Routinely audit your student’s digital footprint with Footprint Friday. Visit FootprintFriday.com to learn more.
- Have a dialog with your teen about having a positive online reputation for college admissions and future career opportunities
- Decide which apps are okay for your student to use by referring to our Parent App Guide
- Become a social media safety expert at our next free webinar and learn 3 hidden app features that encourage bad behavior
Additional resources
Become a member or log in to learn more on this topic
This is great info, thanks for giving me some ideas on how to start a dialogue with my teen!
Sharon M.
Parent VIP Member
Josh's presentation about social media was unbelievably fantastic. Our students learned so much about what kids should and shouldn't be doing. The fact that it is such a thoughtful process made it all worthwhile.
Director of College Advising
Educator Webinar Attendee
This webinar is a very helpful eye-opener on the apps that are popular with my students.
Irene C.
Educator Webinar Attendee
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