Kaspersky Lab report: Digital Parenting

The Kaspersky Lab in cooperation with David Smahel published a report on the role of mothers and fathers in securing their children’s online safety.

Kaspersky Lab & Smahel, D. (2016). Digital Parenting: Fathers are crucial for digital security in parenting [report]. Kaspersky Lab. Available here.

Nowadays, almost every child from a certain age uses a digital device connected to the Internet, meaning parents have to deal with a whole new aspect of parenting – ‘digital parenting’. They have to decide what is good or bad for their children when it comes to using digital devices, how much control is appropriate and how to ensure children are safe in the digital environment. Kaspersky Lab wanted to get a better understanding of digital parenting, especially the roles of mothers and fathers in protecting children, and so joined forces with an expert on children’s online behaviour, Professor David Smahel from Masaryk University. We carried out research into digital parenting with the help of the Toluna agency and 450 Czech parents and adult carers of children aged 5 to 17 who participated in our survey. The results suggest that mothers take the primary role in solving issues of child safety offline, while fathers assume the primary role for children’s digital security.