Tag Archives: Child Safety

Child Safety, Entertainment, Internet, ISPs, Online, Social Networking

No More Playtime: Children Spend Their Free Time Staring at a Screen Instead

A new generation hooked on digital content is shunning traditional playtime in favour of watching TV and surfing the internet, according to new research from uSwitch.com, the independent comparison and switching service. The report also reveals a high proportion of children using the internet and watching TV unsupervised in their bedrooms after being sent to bed, while an alarming number of parents have yet to set up the necessary control measures to protect them from viewing unsuitable content.

In a typical day, outside of school hours children spend an average of 1.4 hours online and 1.6 hours watching television. Not only does this mean that they are spending 3 hours a day staring at a screen, but it suggests that surfing the internet is set to take over from watching TV as the most popular children’s recreational activity.

But where does this leave old fashioned playtime, and are we creating a new generation of internet addicts? Children today have a plethora of digital distractions whether they are in the form of games consoles such as the Wii, or social networking sites such as Bebo, with traditional playtime all but lost. Worryingly, 29% of children now have a computer in their bedroom and almost two thirds (63%) of these use it before going to sleep. Similarly, nearly half (49%) have a TV in their room and 64% regularly watch this in bed.

Despite nearly a third (30%) of parents worrying about information or images that they have found their child looking at on a website or on TV, just 41% of parents always supervise their children using the internet and 11% never do. Over half of parents (55%) leave it up to their children to decide which websites to visit, based on either guidelines they have set or common sense.

Taking the issue of parental control extremely seriously, all major broadband companies offer filtering facilities in their broadband packages, usually for free, enabling parents to have more control over the information and images viewed by their children. Yet over a third of parents (34%) have not set up any filters or blocks on their home internet: 22% believe that it’s too time consuming, and a further 21% simply haven’t got round to setting it up. A third of parents (32%) are unaware of the parental control features available with their service.

Jason Glynn, communications expert at uSwitch.com, says: “In an age where engaging content such as on-demand TV will only increase the amount of hours our children spend online, we urge parents to contact their internet providers to see what controls are available to them. Speed and price should take second place to safety – but with most broadband services including filtering software for free, there really is no excuse not to take action.

“We fully support the measures being laid out by companies to help families tackle this issue, such as TalkTalk’s plans to classify websites with U, PG, 14 and 18 certificates. Our research shows that 8 out of 10 parents would back such a system.”

Via EPR Network
More Internet & Online press releases

B2C, Child Safety, Internet, Online, Search, Services, Web

Google’s Street View Provides Predators With Detailed That Could Be Used For Planning Abductions

Child Shield USA joins nation-wide campaign to raise child Internet safety concerns about Google Map’s new “Street View” application. Stop Internet Predators works to educate parents and communities about the potential dangers associated with this technology.

Today, Child Shield USA is eager to announce it has joined a national campaign formed in an effort to educate parents about child safety implications of new online technologies. Stop Internet Predators, a project of Stop Child Predators, is a coalition focusing primarily on Google’s “Street View” technology and the potential dangers to children’s privacy and safety if misused.

“After viewing images of children on Street View, I decided it was time to do more to stand up for children’s safety,” said John Raskob, President of Child Shield USA. “New technologies like this one could allow for children and parents to be unknowingly in harm’s way.”

Child Shield USA‘s primary goal is to reduce the alarming numbers of lost, missing, abducted, and runaway children in America. Their guaranteed and proven child safety programs provide parents with an array of easy-to-follow educational materials that will empower their children with important knowledge that can help prevent a tragedy. Child Shield USA is happy to integrate new Internet safety materials into their educational kits for parents.

“We are very glad to add Child Shield USA to our growing list of partners,” said Stacie Rumenap, Executive Director of Stop Child Predators. “Child Shield USA has a reputation as ‘America’s Protector of Children’ and we are pleased they have joined the efforts of Stop Internet Predators.”

Child Shield USA supports the petition Stop Internet Predators has led and encourages all parents to call elected officials to exercise restriction options in order to protect our children’s privacy and safety.

For more information about the campaign and to sign the petition please visit: www.StopInternetPredators.org. For more information on Child Shield USA and their “FREE” $2,000 Child Saftey Program, contact your local affiliate, Geoffrey Scheid at 682-552-5341. www.chidlshieldusa.com/safetynet

Via EPR Network
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