Η ESET presented the results of its international research "Evolution of a child and technology» the world's largest mobile phone industry mobile exposure. One of the most notable findings is that parents in Russia are the toughest with children. Until they reach the age of five, almost no boy or girl has its own mobile gadget and is not allowed to do anything in cyberspace 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 ties in with another notable finding, that parents are not at all happy with the fact that even very young children are surrounded by modern technologies from early ages. It appears to be a universal consensus, as this view is held by the majority of respondents in all four nations. Surveys were conducted by Google Consumer Surveys in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, and by Merku in Russia, in January 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. This is interesting, as many popular networks have significantly higher age limits for opening an account, ranging from 13 for Facebook or Twitter to 18 for the Russian VKontakte or YouTube.
ESET surveys also show that British parents are more informed about issues safety when it comes to protecting their children in cyberspace. Percentage close to three quarters (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 through Google Consumer Surveys (Germany, United Kingdom and USA) and Merku Survey (Russia) were online on a representative 1.000 parent sample with children up to 14 years in each country in January 2016.
