Online Safety Index for Parents

BE a PRO Parent
TM

BE a PRO Parent
Safety Index Report 2013
TM

Sponsored by:

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iKeepSafe BEaPROTM Parent Safety Index Report 2013

www.ikeepsafe.org/beaproparent/info

BE a PRO Parent

Executive
Summary
In 2013, the Internet Keep Safe Coalition
(iKeepSafe) assessed American families’
competence and attitudes surrounding all
six known online safety risks experienced
by K-12th-grade children.

Close to 3,700 parents nationwide
participated in the online survey. All
respondents were at least 18 years or older
and had at least one child under the age of
18 living with them.

TM

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME:
all six areas of known—not
perceived—online safety
risks have been studied and
surveyed.

The objective of the research was twofold:
1. To better grasp parents’ understanding
of and relationships with connected
technology as both relate to keeping
their families safe online
2. To further fine-tune iKeepSafe BEaPRO™
apps and related resources with
qualitative and quantitative analysis and
data
Knowing that 74%* of teens turn to their
moms and dads for digital citizenship
guidance, we have created iKeepSafe
BEaPRO™ Parent online safety apps to
help parents maintain the success of their
children’s academic, professional, and
financial futures.
Never before has an online safety app been
backed by such extensive research and
collaboration with nationally recognized
internet security, online safety, legal,
education, and mental health experts.
* Family Online Institute The Online Generation Gap: Contrasting
attitude of parents and teens

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Background
Story
The story of iKeepSafe BEaPRO™ starts
in 2008, when the Rochester Institute of
Technology (RIT) surveyed 40,000 New
York-based students on their internet
usage. A report was created from those
findings, highlighting the leading digital
offences committed by K-12th-grade
children.

Hospital to translate these known online
safety risks into technology-positive core
competencies.”
With their help, we created the iKeepSafe
BEaPRO™ Parent Safety Index based on
what is now known as iKeepSafe’s Six
Pillars of Digital Citizenship and Wellness:

With the help from nationally recognized
thought leaders, iKeepSafe used RIT’s
research to create the first-ever framework
around all known—not perceived—online
safety risks affecting kids today.
Investigators, prosecutors and defense
attorneys helped us identify and categorize
new media-related criminal and civil cases
found in the court system.
Internet security, digital literacy,
education, and mental health experts
contributed credible, academic research
and best practices to our efforts.

Pillar 1: Balance
Pillar 2: Ethics
a

Pillar 3: Privacy
Pillar 4: Relationships
Pillar 5: Reputation
Pillar 6: Online Security
iKeepSafe BEaPRO™ Parent teaches adults
essential technology skills and habits, how
to model technology-positive behavior,
and how to quickly get their children up to
speed.

Finally, we partnered with the Center on
Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s

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BE a PRO Parent
TM

RESEARCH PROVES: Youth online
behavior impacts how they feel
about themselves; the quality of their
relationships; and, their future academic,
professional, and financial successes.

Introduction
When it comes to their children’s online
safety, moms and dads often don’t know
what they need to know, and they don’t
know where to start looking for answers.
iKeepSafe recognizes this gap in knowledge
and the need for guidance. Our Online
Safety Index report identifies the six core
competencies—The Six Pillars of Digital
Citizenship and Wellness—that lead to
youth success in our digitally connected
culture. It casts light on the areas in which
parents feel either confident or uniformed.
Studies show that kids turn to their parents

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for advice and information when they
have online safety questions. Sometimes
parents need answers themselves, as well
as practical next steps, in their quest to
smoothly integrate digital citizenship into
their households.
The case for creating dynamic online safety
resources that are easily accessible, current,
and backed by experts can’t be ignored.
iKeepSafe pledges to use this research and
more like it as we continue our mission to
bring online safety to the whole family, the
whole world over.



Pillar 1
Balance
KEY FINDINGS
Many parents say they put limits on the
types of online activities their children
take part in. When it comes to making
household rules around striking a balance
between time spent on and offline, parents
indicate the following:

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»» Of the remaining parents in the study,
26% said they’ve made this devicecharging rule but don’t steadily carry it
out, and 39% have never created a rule
of this kind before.

OVERALL FINDINGS
BALANCE TRENDS
Moms and dads are setting rules around
limiting the use of electronic media in their
child’s bedroom (69%).
»» Of the 69% of parents who have set
balance limits, 48% say the rule is set in
place and enforced, while 21% say they
have made the rule but do not follow up
consistently.
Families are starting to make choices about
when to be and when not to be reachable
rather than always being “wired” (61%).
»» Of the 61% of parents who are setting
balance rules, 35% have made the
rule and make sure that it’s followed,
whereas 26% have put the rule in place
but don’t implement it on a daily basis

AREA OF CONCERN
Families could enjoy a few more Z’s if they
set and enforced rules around charging
devices where they can’t interrupt sleep:
only 36% of families do this.

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Largely, parents promote on and offline
balance by setting rules around the types
of digital activities their children can
participate in (77%).
Many households designate the dinner
table as a “media-free” zone, with 50% of
parents enforcing this rule daily and 22%
having good intentions but not always
sticking to their guns.
Despite some inconsistency with mediafree family time, parents assure us that
they value real-life interactions over digital
activities. Only 23% of families lack rules
that prioritize “old-fashioned” face time
over online contact.

BALANCE: 67% of parents
believe their family uses digital
media in the proper balance.



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The remaining households regularly enforce
these unplugged habits (50%) or have at
least created rules in the past to encourage
greater offline interactions (27%).
The ground gets slightly shaky once time
and location become a factor in media
consumption.
Moms and dads consistently reinforce
rules that limit the amount of time their
kids spend each day with their electronic
devices (44%) and those times during the
day when they can use their devices or
watch TV (42%). Respectively, 28% and
26% of surveyed parents have made the
move to carry out these rules but aren’t
quite there yet.
Those children using connected
technologies are encouraged to focus on
one task at a time (37% enforce this rule,
while 29% have the made the rule but don’t
follow up.)
An overwhelming number of families (66%)
don’t have rules against using smartphones
or cellphones as alarm clocks – or engaging
in screen time in the last hour before bed
(57%).

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Pillar 2
Ethics

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TM

KEY FINDINGS
Parents feel strongly about how their
children behave online. When it comes to
teaching their kids the ethical usage of
digital media and devices, they say the
following:

ETHICAL TRENDS
Parents are talking to their children about
avoiding piracy and stealing of any kind
online (67%).
»» Of the 67% of parents who have spoken
to their children about ethical digital
usage, 48% have done so within the
past year, while 19% have had the
conversation more than a year ago.
Parents are talking to their children about
how to respect themselves and others
online (75%).
»» Of the 75% of parents who have talked
to their children about their online
conduct, 58% of parents have made this
a topic of conversation within the last
year versus 17% who have brought it up
more than twelve months ago.

AREA OF CONCERN
Almost half of the parents surveyed haven’t
taught their kids how to respond if they see
bullying or harassment online (49%).

33% have talked to their children about
identifying and responding to
cyberbullying incidents during the past
year and 19% have discussed these
issues more than a year ago.

ETHICS: 85% of parents feel
their household is ethical in
its digital media usage.

OVERALL FINDINGS
Parents know that they have to open the
dialogue around the expectations and
limitations they place on their children’s
online behavior (78%).
They drill down even further by determining
what their kids can create and share online
(74%).
Conversations emphasizing the importance
of avoiding piracy or any other type of
online stealing are taking place but not
quite to the degree of the aforementioned
discussions.
Adults focus on plagiarism, teaching their
kids and teens that sources of information
and ideas should always be acknowledged
(45% have done this in the past year; 19%

»» Of the remaining parents in the survey,

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TM

have done the same at least a year or
longer ago).
Moms and dads have talked about piracy
with their children this year (48%) and the
remainder visited the subject more than a
year ago (19%).
Things start to get tricky when it comes to
following up on where kids and teens go
online.
Close to half of surveyed parents don’t use
parental controls to filter, block, or track
their children’s digital steps (44%). And
56% of parents admit that they don’t check
the web browser history after kids use the
computer.

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Pillar 3
Privacy
KEY FINDINGS
Privacy is a topic of concern that motivates
parents to head cyber crooks and
bullies off at the pass. When it comes to
protecting their families’ data, they share
the following:

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50% have discussed app safety with
their kids over the last twelve months,
whereas 17% haven’t mentioned this
issue in more than a year.

OVERALL FINDINGS
Eight in ten parents have adjusted and
changed their social networking privacy
settings: (81%).

It’s not surprising that parents are huge
on privacy. They know that concealing
their children’s valuable data is the key to
keeping their reputations, happiness, and
future success in tact.

»» Of the 81% of parents who have updated
their social network setting, 60% have
done so in the past year, while 21% have
made the adjustment more than a year
ago.

Conversations are started with what can
arguably be the foundation of privacy:
passwords.

PRIVACY TRENDS

Parents are turning off geolocation features
on phone and the web (75%).
»» Of the 75% of parents who are shutting
off features that tell apps and websites
where they are, 57% have “gone dark”
during this past year and 18% took steps
to hide their locations the year before or
earlier.

AREA OF CONCERN
One in three parents don’t talk to their
children about how the apps they
download can impact their privacy (34%).

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Moms and dads teach their kids that they
should never share their login credentials
with anyone other than their parents (76%).
They also remind their young ones that
they shouldn’t divulge personal information
(e.g., birth date, address, phone number) to
others online (77%).
The irrevocable nature of posted content
isn’t lost on parents who remind their kids
that once texts are sent or information is
shared across the web, there’s no getting it
back (73%).
Appropriate posting, in general, is a hot
topic and 74% of parents attempt to teach
their children what should and should not
be published online.



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Some parents go beyond conversation and
monitor their kids’ screen names to confirm
they’re not sharing private information via
their online handles (76%).
Yet, slightly fewer moms and dads go as
far as to read comments and other posts
they’re children have made and that have
been sent to them (67%).
Fewer still, the number of parents who
have reviewed their children’s online friends
list—38% of parents admitted to have never
taken this step.
Rather than taking a monitoring
approach, adults instead encourage their
kids and teens to come to them if they
feel threatened by something they’ve
encountered online (76%).

PRIVACY: 80% of parents
feel their family is careful in
protecting their online privacy.

While privacy is an important topic in
American households, some parents
struggle with keeping up with related online
policies. Only 50% of surveyed parents
within the year have learned the privacy
policies published by the sites their children
visit, while it’s been more than a year for
21%.

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Pillar 4
Reputation

BE a PRO Parent
TM

KEY FINDINGS
Parents are teaching their families how to
protect their reputations. When it comes to
managing personal information online, they
claim the following:

REPUTATION TRENDS
They are starting to manage personal
information that’s available online (84%).
»» Of the 84% of parents who have taken
steps to oversee their public data, 63%
have reported doing so in the last twelve
months, while 21% haven’t engaged in
this activity in over a year.
The majority are teaching their children
the importance of not sharing private
information about themselves, their family
members, and their friends online (77%).
»» Of the 77% of parents who have spoken
to their kids about keeping personal
data private, 59% have discussed this
subject within the year and 18% haven’t
brought it in the last twelve months.

AREA OF CONCERN
Few families are searching their identities
across search engines like Google, Yahoo,
and Bing: only 36% of families have done
this within the past year.

21% haven’t “googled” themselves
within a year, while 43% have never
engaged in a self-search before.

REPUTATION: 80% of parents
say their family is careful
in protecting its online
reputation.

OVERALL FINDINGS
Moms and dads talk about onlinereputation protection with their families
(71%). They’re teaching their kids and teens
how to post positive material that will
attract college recruiters and employers
(66%).
And they’re actively protecting their
children’s reputations (49% within the year,
21% more than a year ago), going so far
as to edit or delete information that may
possibly harm them (57%).
Adults are doubling efforts by educating
their young ones on the permanence of
online content—once information is shared
it can be manipulated, shared, and stored
by someone else (74%).


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Reputation management extends beyond
the family, though. Many children are
learning they should report inappropriate
content to protect others’ online
reputations, with only 23% of parents
never having had this discussion with their
families.
As far as their children’s inappropriate
content is concerned—specifically their
email handles—only 40% of parents have
made their kids and teens replace immature
or unsuitable email addresses.
Oversharing is a popular topic across the
web, and most parents are aware of the
consequences stemming from sharing
sensitive information online. When it comes
to their kids’ health issues, 76% of adults
feel they carefully share information (i.e.,
60% have done this within the year and 16%
more than a year ago).

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Pillar 5
Relationships
KEY FINDINGS
While the majority of parents are deeply
concerned with how they behave
online, they don’t necessarily attribute
better friendships to the types of online
connections they make. When it comes
to engaging respectfully on the internet,
moms and dads state the following:

TM

15% strongly agree that their kids’
friendships benefit from their online
connections, while a larger number
(39%) simply agree.

OVERALL FINDINGS
RELATIONSHIP TRENDS
They are teaching children not to say
anything online that they wouldn’t say in
person (84%).
»» Of the 84% of adults who have taught
their kids not to “hide” behind a
keyboard, 48% and 36% strongly agree
and agree respectively that this is the
correct code of online conduct.
Family members are using social media
and cell phones to enhance healthy
relationships (86%).
»» Of the 86% of family members who
positively use social networking and
mobile phones, 30% strongly agree that
these communication methods improve
their friendships, while 56% agree.

AREA OF CONCERN
Close to half of surveyed parents don’t
believe that their children’s online
connections improve their friendships
(46%).

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Overwhelmingly, parents strongly agree
that they respectfully post about others
online (62% strongly agree, 34% agree).
Cyberbullying and harassment are critical
talking points for parents (74%). But many
adults feel their children would know what
to do if a friend pestered them online (78%).
Of those parents, 28% strongly agree
that they have a plan of action in place if
their kids feel hurt by something that has
been posted online about them (vs. 41%
who agree that this is the case for their
households).

RELATIONSHIPS: 51% of
parents feel that social
media has enhanced their
relationships.



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Moving the discussion beyond their family’s
obligation to report inappropriate online
posts, adults are teaching their children
how to actually flag and inform the powers
that be of this unsuitable content (62%).
And 61% of moms and dads extend this
instruction to situations where harassment
comes into play.
Regarding healthy friendships, parents
don’t fully draw a connection between
their online and offline relationships. Only
22% of parents believe their families’ online
interactions with each other enhance their
overall relationships as a unit, while 31%
disagree with this statement.
Even fewer parents, 20%, strongly agree
that their friendships outside of the
family are bettered through the online
connections they make (39% disagree).

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Pillar 6
Online Security

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TM

KEY FINDINGS
Adults feel confident in the steps they take
to mitigate risks on the internet. In terms
of behaving securely online, they say the
following:

ONLINE SECURITY TRENDS
Most parents specifically look for the
“https” before carrying out financial
transactions (78%).
»» Of the 78% of parents who know that
“https” signifies secure communication
over a computer network, 61% have
looked for this indicator in the past year,
while 17% have done the same but at
least a year earlier.
Almost all families are password protecting
their wireless networks (90%).
»» Of the families that are password
protecting their Wi-Fi networks, 71%
have done this at some point over the
past year and 19% have done the same a
year ago or more.

AREA OF CONCERN
Parents know how to create strong login
credentials but few are teaching their
children how to do it. Specifically, 93% of
parents have created strong passwords (i.e.,
they include a mix of lower and uppercase
letters, numbers, and symbols), but less

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than half of these same parents have
helped their children create strong
passwords (44% within the last year).
7% have never created passwords that
include a mix of lower and uppercase
letters, numbers, and symbols. And 36%
of adults have never helped their kids
create strong login credentials.

OVERALL FINDINGS
Much like Pillar 4 Reputation, Pillar 6 Online
Security ranks high in terms of confidence
felt by parents. Most adults have conducted
financial transactions within the last year on
sites that they know are reputable (79%).
Moms and dads feel they know their way
around PC security as well, with 76% in the
last year choosing to keep their software
current through automatic updates.
Other parents know to employ additional
safety measures like turning off their
computers when not using them (87%) and
installing antivirus and malware protection
on their computers and mobile devices
(91%).
Wireless networks get ample attention, too,
as 90% of surveyed adults say they use
network keys to protect themselves from



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TM

Wi-Fi leeches and 81% use router
passwords. Once they’ve stepped
outside their homes, parents continue to
take measures to protect themselves on
public hotspots (83%).
Identity theft is top of mind for parents
and 61% have educated themselves within
the last year (29% a year ago or more) on
how to protect their personal details from
cybercriminals.
The majority of adults share this
information with their children, with the
remaining 39% never sharing what they
know about guarding private data.

ONLINE SECURITY: 71% of
parents feel their family has
done all it should to protect
their online security.

One area that needs improvement—
perhaps not surprisingly—is the recycling
of passwords across multiple sites. In
all, 35% of parents have never done this;
however, 26% reused their password
at least a year or so ago and 39%
have done so as recently as this year.

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Methodology
The iKeepSafe BEaPRO™ Parent Safety
Index report is a research project focused
on parents. All respondents were age
18-years or older and had at least one
child under the age of 18 living in their
household.
The questionnaire was designed by and
in close consultation with iKeepSafe.
Crux Research programmed, hosted and
tabulated the study. Respondents were
drawn from the Research Now panel.

»» In total, 3,685 parents took part in the
study.
»» 2,945 respondents (80%) were white,
with the remaining being non-white.
»» 1,843 respondents were male; 1,842
respondents were female.
»» 1,230 respondents were aged 18-34;
1,227 respondents were aged 35-49;
1,228 respondents were aged 50+.
»» 1,414 respondents were parents of boys;
1,200 were parents of girls; 1,071 were
parents of both boys and girls.
»» The study data was balanced to equally
represent the age groups and genders.
»» The questionnaire was available in
Spanish as well as English. 45
respondents took the Spanish version.
»» The questionnaire averaged 9.3 minutes.
»» The study was completed from May 22-
26, 2013.

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BE a PRO Parent
TM

iKeepSafe BEaPRO Parent
TM

The Online Safety App That Helps the Whole Family
iKeepSafe BEaPRO™ Parent online safety
app educates and empowers adults to
protect their kids across all connected
devices:
»» First, the app assesses users’
households, highlighting where gaps
in technology behaviors and attitudes
exist.
»» Next, it offers expert online safety
advice and resources that are tailored to
address each parent’s specific situation.
»» Finally, the app explains how to pass
this education down to their children to
improve overall technology health and
safety.

Keep your kids happy, healthy, and safe
online—visit our BEaPROTM Parent online
safety app on Facebook: join us here.
Or, access BEaPROTM Parent advice no
matter where you are—download the app
for Android: download here.

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BE a PRO Parent
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Who Is
iKeepSafe?
iKeepSafe, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is a broad
partnership of globally recognized internet
safety experts and thought leaders who
work together to keep kids safe across
digital devices.
The coalition provides innovative resources,
including parent tutorials and educational
materials. iKeepSafe uses its unique
partnerships to share safety resources with
families worldwide.

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