While parents know that their kids spend time on the Internet, they are not aware of just how much.

The Norton Online Family Report released this year found a discrepancy on what parents think their kids are doing online and what their kids are actually doing. For instance, while children spend an average of 18 hours a week online, their parents think, they’re just spending 14 hours. This is either because parents are off with their estimates or they are just not aware that their kids are logging on elsewhere. Internet shops and cafes are frequent hangouts of kids, seeking to do some social networking online, chatting and playing online games, without their parents’ knowledge. The report also found that though 77 percent of kids download various digital contents online — some of which are largely inappropriate for their age — parents think only 57 percent of kids do.

Stranger danger

This lack of awareness can be dangerous. In fact, one in five children surveyed said that their parents “have no idea” what they are doing online. It suggests complacency among parents or worse, ignorance in the dangers that the Internet poses to kids. Mostly, these dangers come from what is being called “stranger danger.”

As many as nine out of 10 kids have had “negative online experiences.” About 55 percent of those surveyed had been exposed to violent or nude images online while 67 percent  responded to an online scam. But the list gets worse. Of those surveyed here in the Philippines, 53 percent  experienced having someone try to get them to do something online that they thought was wrong and 52 percent had someone they don’t know try to meet them in the "real world."

Children are very vulnerable to cybercriminals or people who use the Internet to lure others, most often kids, to do their bidding. Take social networking sites for example. It is not impossible to find a pedophile or a cyberbully among your children’s “supposedly” cyberfriends, especially if they are the type to approve friends indiscriminately.  Even with an age requirement, social networking sites like Facebook, Friendster and Twitter have kids as members. These accounts are ways for cybercriminals to get in touch with them.

This is all the more true in the Philippines, where social networking is booming. Kids in the Philippines have 28 more online friends (at 84 friends) than the global average of 56. The survey also found that as many as 79 percent of the Filipino kids have had someone they don’t know online try to add them as a friend on a social networking site. This is 38 percentage points greater than the global average of 41 percent. The percentage of kids in the Philippines (52 percent), who were asked to meet a stranger somewhere, is 40 percentage points greater than the global average of 10.

Monitor, not stop

According to Effendy Ibrahim, Norton Internet Safety Advocate and Norton Business Lead for Asia, parents today should take an active role in their kids’ online lives. He recognizes that the Internet is already a part of children’s lives and forbidding children to log in is not the answer.

“There is clearly an important role for parents to play by increasing their understanding of the Internet, the role it plays in their kids’ lives and the experiences their kids are having online. However there is a need to ensure rules are sufficient and current to keep their kid safe online. For parents, a combination of technology and talking openly about issues can help ensure your kids have a positive experience online,” said Ibrahim.

Monitoring is the key and parents can do this in a variety of ways, from talking to their children about their online activities to putting a monitoring software in their computers like the Norton Online Family, which can keep track of the sites that children visit as well as their keyword searches. The software is free at https:// onlinefamily.norton.com.

Surprisingly, kids actually want more parental involvement in their online lives. Seventy-nine percent of children agree they always follow the family’s rules when using the Internet. Parents are also the first port of call for kids in the Philippines with 47 percent of children trusting their parents the most when it comes to protecting them from being a victim of cybercrime.

(The Norton Online Family Report 2010 is based on research conducted in April this year by The Leading Edge, an independent market research firm, on behalf of Symantec Corporation. The online survey polled 556 adults aged 18+ – of which 114 were parents of children aged 10-17 completed a separate parent focused survey – and 105 children aged 10-17 – who spend 1+ hour online per week – in the Philippines.)