The virtual world is full of landmines. And the most vulnerable are children. McAfee’s survey on child safety online released on the eve of Children’s Day shows that children are living dangerously on the web, and parents aren’t as aware as they should be.
Bad experience
Consider this: 67 per cent of the surveyed Indian teens have had a bad experience with online friends, 40 per cent believe that they shouldn’t share their home address online but still do, while 38 per cent have witnessed cruel behaviour online.
Hooked
Worryingly, while 97 per cent of teens surveyed are on social media, a majority of them confessed they opened an account at the age of 13.
In a release, McAfee Cybermum India, Anindita Mishra, advised that parents get more involved in their children’s virtual lives. “The results of this study affirm that our children, though born as digital natives, need to be aided by parents so that they do not end up being a potential target of a cyber-victim.”
