West Australian parents appear ignorant about their children's use of the internet and mobile phones and the consequences could be disastrous, a leading teen psychologist warned yesterday.
Michael Carr-Gregg said the results of a recent survey showed a growing gap between what WA parents thought their children were up to and reality.
The survey found almost 40 per cent of WA parents said their children did not use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, while one in four said their children did not text message.
Dr Carr-Gregg is part of a team of experts who will talk at the Generation Next seminar being held in Perth on Sunday for parents of teenagers.
The survey found WA children were more likely to have computers in their bedrooms than in any other State, which Dr Carr-Gregg said was a big mistake.
The survey found almost 45 per cent of WA parents let children have mobile phones in bedrooms after 10pm, which he labelled "monumentally stupid". "Nothing is going to interfere with sleep more than having kids texting each other under the covers," he said. "Parents need to find their digital spine and start setting limits and boundaries around this, otherwise they may in fact find that their kids pay a very hefty price."
The nationally-weighted survey of almost 530 Australian parents was undertaken by a research company on behalf of Healthed, the organisers of the seminar. Dr Carr-Gregg said parents should always have and enforce a family internet use contract, know their children's password for social networking sites and constantly monitor their children's use of the internet.
"To do anything less than that is manifestly irresponsible . . . all the research shows now that children do take risks online," he said.
He said failure to monitor children's internet usage could potentially result in "disasters" for children's development and for parents financially. He said in some overseas examples, the parents of students who slandered teachers on Facebook were being sued.
"Now we're not as litigious as the United States are at the moment but watch this space," Dr Carr-Gregg said.
Psychologist warns parents to monitor internet and phone use
JESSICA STRUTT, The West Australian
November 4, 2009, 2:25 am
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4 Comments
You know. It really is inconvenient when the child is responsible enough to handle the internet without supervision, but the parents are still on their back. I am referring to the teenagers. I have a son, and he is fantastic with technology. I trust him with the internet, because her isn't stupid enough to be doing things that can risk his safety. On the other hand, i do agree with the fact that younger kids, or irrisponsible teenagers, that are being using the internet should definately be monitored, because the internet can be on the highest risks for safety. As far as the mobiles go, this can be as dangerous, with different components. So it's hard to say. The decision of the parents to monitor their child should really depend on the type of behaviour/'way of thinking' the child has.
With parents so distracted from their job of raising children properly by work, and other interests, children are often raising themselves. Unfortunately, they're not usually good at it. It's very easy to produce offspring, some do it as a profession. They're the normal consequence of sex. Children are a lifetime concequence. If you don't want them, don't do what produces them. It's called being responsible and using your brains. It takes very little intelligence to produce a child, it's quite another matter to raise them well. That takes time, effort, love, resources, sacrifice, wisdom, dedication and hard work. Be prepared to measure up, or don't have sex/kids.
I have attended a couple of Dr Carr-Gregg's talks where he was a Keynote Speaker. He knows what he is talking about. The chronic lack of sleep which is a spin off of the technological revolution ie. use of mobliles and computers, is a major health problem particularly for adolescents. The use of these technologies for the purpose of bullying is rampant among many adolesent and young adult groups. Most adolescents do the right thing yet an ever increasing number are abusing the freedom afforded to them in our society. There is no real answer other than responsible parents actively monitoring their child. Unfortuately, the immature, irresponsible parents bread children of the same il'ke and we as a society have to wear that.
hmmm... i don't know what to say about this. i believe that the internet need to be monitored, not sure about the phone. it depends on age i guess. there should be a certain age when u can get a phone and the computer should be left outside so guardians can see.