SEPTEMBER 1999

Survey Summary -- Children Online

OVERVIEW/DISCUSSION

An overwhelming number of parents feel their children should be supervised while using the Internet, but add they don’t feel the need requires filtering software for their home computer.

That’s the results of an Esearch survey conducted in September, 1999 of nearly 1400 participants. When asked how they felt about unsupervised surfing of the Internet by children, more than half said it made them uncomfortable to some degree, 21.7% said children should always be supervised, while 34.7% said they were ‘somewhat’ uncomfortable with it. Conversely, 21.3% were somewhat comfortable with unsupervised surfing, and 10.1% had no problem with it at all. The comfort level changed when the age of the children was specified. Approximately 50% of the respondents felt children between the ages of 13 and 17 should be allowed to browse unsupervised, while 36.7% believed that option should be left to children the age of 17 and older.

Despite concerns over how much supervision children should have while surfing, an overwhelming 80% of the households did not utilize filtering software in their homes. The survey revealed less than one third (32.4%) would like to see filtering software in our public libraries. It should be noted that the response rate to the question about school policies regarding the Internet was less than 50%.

When asked how they felt about children making online purchases, almost half (49.7%) said no. However, 44% said yes, as long as it was with parental consent.

Of those responding, the majority was between the ages of 25 and 44, married (75%), and almost evenly split between men (51.9%) and women (48.9%). A large majority (85%) has children under the age of 18, and nearly two-thirds of those kids (65%) are Internet active.

The responses to our survey were almost evenly divided among economic levels (<$30K to $79K ranges). The highest percent of respondents (23.5%) identified themselves as employed by large companies with over a thousand workers. Homemakers made up the next highest percent (16%), followed by those who worked for small companies (12.8%) of only 1 to 4 employees.

QUESTIONNAIRE

• 85.4% - yes
• 13.2% - no

• 65.1% - yes
• 23.6% - no

• 10.6% - I’m totally comfortable with it
• 23.1% - I’m somewhat comfortable with it
• 08.7% - I’m neither comfortable nor uncomfortable
• 34.7% - I’m somewhat uncomfortable with it
• 21.7% - I’m totally uncomfortable with it (it shouldn’t happen)

• 02.2% - under 10-years of age
• 08.9% - 10-12 years of age
• 20.9% - 13-15 years of age
• 28.7% - 15-17 years of age
• 36.7% - Over 17 years of age

• 17.0% - yes
• 80.5% - no

• 32.4% - yes
• 43.6% - no

7. If you have school-aged children, what policies are in affect at their schools to keep them from stumbling across inappropriate websites?

• 08.1% - My kids don’t have web access at school
• 08.7% - My kids have web access, but I’m not familiar with their policies
• 07.5% - The schools have filtering software
• 08.7% - The children are totally supervised when using the Internet
• 05.6% - Other

8. What guidelines to you give your kids when surfing the web to protect them from inappropriate websites?

• 30.5% - A parent must be present/supervising
• 08.8% - I haven’t given them any guidelines
• 27.6% - I’ve explained to them not to visit inappropriate sites
• 07.0% - I’ve installed filtering software and so this isn’t an issue

• 04.2% - yes, within a family specified budget
• 44.0% - yes, with parental permission for each purchase
• 01.2% - yes, unqualified
• 49.7% - no

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

Of this group, the average respondent was married, middle class, two income family, with children who are allowed access to the Internet. However, most parents seem to feel that children should not have free reign to web browse without parental consent and/or supervision, and younger children should not have Internet access. Interestingly, most parents do not use filtering software at home, and the majority does not agree that libraries should install it. Less than half of this group responded to the question of school policies regarding Internet access. Also, with regard to online purchases, there was not a significant difference in whether a child should be allowed to purchase online with parental consent and not be allowed to make purchases online at all.

A complete report with tables and full analysis is available from Esearch.com for $595.00. Email westergaard@mindspring.com to order.

About Esearch

Esearch is an Internet market research firm specializing in data collection via email. The company has a database of thousands of individuals willing to participate in on-line surveys, including complete demographic information on all panelists. Individuals interested in becoming an Esearch panelist or companies interested in on-line research should visit www.esearch.com or email esearch@esearch.com.