Η ESET presented the results of its international research «Evolution of a child and technology» at the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry Mobile World Congress. One of the most remarkable findings is that parents in Russia are the strictest with children. By the time they reach the age of five, almost no boy or girl has their own mobile gadget and is not allowed to do anything online without supervision.
Surveys conducted on behalf of ESET compare what age parents in four countries - the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia - consider most appropriate for their children's first steps in digital and normal life.
"There is a difference compared to Western countries, where a significant percentage of children have access to technology much earlier than this" age-old "milestone. Online surfing without parental supervision is commonplace for children under five years old at rates up to 6% in the UK, 8% in Germany and 10% in the US, according to parents who took part in the survey " says Ondrej Kubovič, IT Security Specialist at ESET.
This is linked to another remarkable finding that parents are not at all happy with the fact that even very young children are encircled by modern technologies from early ages. It seems to be a global consensus, as this view is observed in the majority of the respondents in all four nations. Surveys were conducted through Google Consumer Surveys in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, and Merku in Russia in January of 2016. *
The results show that an overwhelming 96,6% of Russian respondents agrees (26%) or totally agrees (70,6%), claiming that "children nowadays use technology and the Internet at a very young age". Only 3,4% claims the opposite is true. On the other hand, the Germans appear more enthusiastic about the role played by modern technologies in the lives of their children, less than two-thirds agree (31,8%) or totally agree (33,5%), with the same statement.
Most parents who have participated in the survey also admit that their children had him their first social networking account before closing 11 years, and in Russia, even earlier, with the average being just at 8 years and 7 months. Αυτό είναι ενδιαφέρον, καθώς πολλά δημοφιλή δίκτυα έχουν σημαντικά υψηλότερά όρια για την αποδεκτή ηλικία για την έναρξη ενός λογαριασμού, που κυμαίνονται από τα 13 έτη για το Facebook ή το Twitter μέχρι τα 18 για το ρώσικο VKontakte ή το YouTube.
ESET surveys also show that British parents are more informed about issues ασφαλείας όταν πρόκειται για την προστασία των παιδιών τους στον κυβερνοχώρο. Ποσοστό κοντά στα τρία τέταρτα (72,8%) of parents in the UK declare they are using parental control tools such as ESET Parental Control. The lowest rate of use of such tools is found in Germany, where only 33,5% states that they use such solutions to monitor what the children are doing when they are online.
For more information, those interested can read the summary blogposts on WeLiveSecurity.com, while for more information about ESET's presence at Mobile World Congress, they can visit special page. ESET is located at Booth B05, Hall 5 at the MWC 2016 conference held in Barcelona (Spain) by February 22.
* Surveys via Google Consumer Surveys (Germany, UK and USA) and Merku Survey (Russia) were conducted online in a demographically representative sample of 1.000 parents with children up to 14 years of age in each country in January 2016.
