While students are increasingly using computers and the internet to facilitate studies and assignment submissions, a recent survey reveals a growing digital divide between Indian teens and their parents

Fear factor

While students are increasingly using computers and the internet to facilitate studies and assignment submissions, a recent survey reveals a growing digital divide between Indian teens and their parents

Visit any cyber cafe near a college and its like having stepped into a corporate office by mistake. Groups of students will be feverishly collating data and images for assignment submissions and presentations, taking printouts, getting them spiral bound... The fortunate ones do their research at home. Unfortunately, not all students restrict their internet usage to these things and as a result, not all parents are able to trust their children when they go online. McAfee’s ‘Secret Lives of Teens’ survey of over 1500 Indian parents and teens, revealed that there is an evident discrepancy between parental perception and the actual reality regarding the online activities of Indian teens. While parental concerns prevail, teens do end up sharing more dangerous information online, contrary to their parents belief. This divide is attributed to the fact that Indian teens are growing up as ‘digital natives’, with increasingly active online lives but lack of parental assistance. l 70% of the surveyed teens believe that they shouldn’t share their home address online but 40% of them still do. Correspondingly, only 21% of the polled parents believe teens would have actually done so. l Interestingly, 70% of polled parents completely trust their teens to tell them everything they do online whereas 58% polled teens strongly believe that they know how to hide their online activities from their parents. Anindita Mishra, McAfee Cybermum India., explained, “The results of the study reaffirm that the online behavioural patterns of children need to be seen in a different light and with lot more gravity and consciousness by Indian parents." She feels that instead of being nurtured through their formative years, today’s teens are meandering their way through an unrestricted virtual world with disturbing experiences like cyber bullying, befriending unknown strangers and accessing provocative content. Arming our kids with the information they need and talking even more openly about the risks involved and how to deal with them, is a key agenda of new age parenting,