Saudi Arabia: 86% parents worried about children online safety

By Irfan Mohammed Jeddah: There is growing concern among parents upon excessive usage of smart phone by children as they refusing to put down their devices which is alarming trend in many homes whether expatriates or citizens. The situation of Indian children living in the Kingdom is more vulnerable as they are depending more upon online due to their limited access to “outside world” other than the school.
Savanta survey report 86% of parents in Saudi Arabia are worried about their children’s online safety, according to the latest survey commissioned by Kaspersky and conducted by the market research company Savanta which was released on Wednesday. Nevertheless, on average, parents only spend a total of 22 minutes talking to their children about online security through their entire childhood. More than half (83%) of those surveyed spend less than 30 minutes discussing the subject, which is half the time of one standard school lesson, the report stated.
Children’s privacy and security online are becoming one of the parents’ most prominent concerns. These are well founded as, according to the Kaspersky’s survey, over 99% children between seven- to 12-years old globally now have an internet-enabled device, smartphone or tablet, it added.
Kids who spend time online are exposed to risks: Report In particular, nearly 2 in 3 parents (70%) agree their kids spend too much time online, which not only means trading other joys and benefits of the childhood for the screen time, but also being continuously exposed to various potential risks, report said.
The most dangerous online threats, according to parents, are children seeing harmful content, such as sexual or violent (61%); experiencing internet addiction (41%); and receiving anonymous messages or content inciting them to carry out the violent or inappropriate activity (23%).