Interconnected but underprotected? Parents' methods and motivations for information seeking on digital safety issues

Parents need information and skills to meet the demands of mediating connected technology in their homes. Parents' methods and motivations for learning to protect children from digital risks were reported through a survey. This study explores relationships between information seeking, parents' concerns, risks children have experienced, and access to connected devices, in addition to the use and satisfaction of various digital safety resources. Three types of information-seeking behavior were identified: (a) protective information seeking, to protect children from being confronted with harmful content; (b) problem-solving information seeking, to help children who have been negatively affected by connected technology; and (c) attentive learning, by attending to media resources passively encountered on this topic. Friends and family are the dominant source of digital safety information, followed by presentations and the Internet. Parents' top concerns for their children using connected technology were accidental exposure to pornography, and sexual content in Internet-based entertainment. Higher numbers of risks experienced by children were positively associated with parents' problem-solving information seeking and level of attentive learning. Parents who were more concerned exhibited more problem-solving information seeking; but despite the high level of concern for children's safety online, 65 percent of parents seek information on this subject less than twice per year. Children have access to a mean of five connected devices at home; a higher number of devices was correlated with increased risks experienced by children, but was not associated with increased concern or information seeking from parents.