Gen Z* and their parents have some difficulties when trying to navigate the online world safely. Studies reveal that parents need to take an active role to stay safe and private, but it’s not easy. Gen Z (ages 13-20+) and younger siblings were born into on online world and feel comfortable but that is nuanced as what you may think is ok, is actually not ok. Each group has a different idea about what’s safe. Parents might be passing down outdated information. Each group may feel different about what to share online. Parent may think it’s ok to share photos of dthe kids without asking. Gen Z and younger may not agree. Do parents need to ask permission? Well, that depends as they say. Parents don’t mean to be malicious when sharing that cute photo but don’t fully realize future ramifications of a digital profile.
We all need to work together on this. Each group has different feelings about parental support relating to internet use. Password protection and methods vary widely and are subject to abuse. Almost all agree that the internet can be harmful with cyber bullying and misinformation among the top concerns. You also read about stalking, sexting, and more things that need to be confronted. Conflicts occur when parents say they monitor the kids’ online habits, while many kids say their parents don’t really pay attention to what they do online. Most Gen Z’ers use tactics to work around parental controls as some use a VPN, some have devices not known to parents, and some use a factory reset to get around parental restrictions. So, you wonder are parents really in the know or in control? Not in all cases, you can conclude. A conversation between parents and their offspring needs to happen and not just once. Peer pressure can change from what was an agreement a few weeks ago into non-compliance. Parents need to be vigilant.
Here’s a link to the full report you can read or download.
https://www.malwarebytes.com/resources/attachments/parenting-and-growing-up-online-10-2022.pdf
Age cohorts**:
Boomers – 1946-1965
Gen X – 1966-1981
Millennials – 1982-1999
*Gen Z – 2000-2020
** https://knoema.com/infographics/egyydzc/us-population-by-age-and-generation-in-2020