What do parents think, and do, about their children’s online privacy?

Debates about personal data and online privacy often make assumptions about parents’ digital skills and sharing practices, how they view their children’s online privacy, and whether parents have the skills to translate concerns about privacy into practical action. This report, the third in a series, is based on a nationally representative survey of 2032 UK parents of children aged 0-17 years old. We examine how UK parents view their own and their children’s digital privacy, whether and how they share images of their children online, and how they negotiate new norms about parents’ roles in supporting their child’s safety and fostering their independence online.
• Online privacy is the top barrier for parents’ internet use – indeed, while overall, parents report few barriers that limit their use of the internet, among those who do report barriers, privacy is the top concern – 12% of parents say this. Most parents (89%) go online ‘almost daily’ or more, and 11% of them say privacy concerns lead them to limit their internet use. Low frequency users, more often from low socio-economic status homes, are even more concerned about privacy – 17% say this, although their main barrier is lack of time.
• Parents’ investment in new technology is growing, despite privacy concerns – this now includes smart home devices (e.g. Amazon Echo, Google Home), wearables and Virtual Reality devices, although these parents (more often younger parents and those from higher socio-economic status households) are still in the minority overall.
• Digital privacy skills are not universal amongst parents or children – while 58% of parents say they can change their privacy settings and 53% say they can decide which information to share online, these skills are not evenly spread. Mothers report greater ability to change privacy settings than fathers, for instance, even though fathers report that they are more concerned about privacy (and though fathers report greater creative digital skills like coding and editing). Parents report that children’s skills increase with age, although there are still considerable gaps. For instance, among parents of 9-12 year olds, only 44% think their child is able to decide which information he or she should or should not share online, compared to 56% of parents of 13-17 year olds.
• Parents who are especially concerned about privacy also share more images or videos of their child online. Although parents who are concerned about privacy share more widely and more frequently about their children, they are also more likely to have asked their children for permission or to have shared at their child’s request. It seems that, for them, the benefits (for example, keeping in touch with family and friends) outweigh their concerns. Or perhaps parents want to share more but struggle to manage how to do this, leading to privacy worries. A few parents (5%) report they later regretted sharing images or videos of their child online.
• Children’s privacy from parents? It is a difficult balancing act for parents – both checking on their children online and encouraging their independence. Only 14% of parents of 9-12 year olds, though 48% of parents of 13-17 year olds, judged their child was old enough to have privacy from them online. Relatedly, on average, parents check their child’s friends or messages on social media ‘sometimes,’ sometimes also ‘friending’ or ‘following’ them on social media – and they do this more often for younger children than for teenagers.
This report shows that policy-makers need to ensure that parents and children are better prepared to navigate issues of privacy online, and that developers take seriously concerns about privacy, so that parents and children do not sacrifice personal privacy for the sake of muchvalued services and opportunities to connect online.