News Investigation

Parents have 'no idea' of child online and digital behaviour, survey finds

Sep 2017 🇦🇺 news.com.au

Covering a survey on the gap between what parents believe about their children's online activity and what actually happens, this news.com.au article quotes Michael Carr-Gregg describing a pattern he calls a 'fake good phenomenon,' where parents report confidently monitoring and supervising their children's device use despite most teenagers using devices in their bedrooms unsupervised. He attributes the gap to a mix of naivety and guilt rather than deliberate dishonesty, and says children can be 'sneaky and manipulative' in ways that make consistent oversight difficult even for attentive parents. Carr-Gregg's comments frame the disconnect as a parenting and awareness challenge rather than evidence of any specific harm. TechKids Foundation cites this as a documented example of his commentary on the limits of parental supervision of children's digital lives.

>90% vs >70%

The survey found over 90% of parents believed they were monitoring their child's online activity, while over 70% of teenagers reported using devices in their bedrooms — a gap Carr-Gregg says undercuts that confidence.

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CITATION

Morphet, Jack. "Parents have 'no idea' of child online and digital behaviour, survey finds." news.com.au, 10 September 2017. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/parents-have-no-idea-of-child-online-and-digital-behaviour-survey-finds/news-story/737ed525e6759c77dcfcb163bc6fc802

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