Parental control apps may not shield teenagers from cyber threats

Mobile apps designed to help parents keep their teenaged children safe from online predators may harm the trust between a parent and child as well as reduce the childs ability to respond to cyber threats to researchers sayThe findings showed that the use of parental control apps was associated with teenagers experiencing more not fewer online risks including unwanted explicit content harassment and online sexual solicitationsParental involvement and direct supervision were both associated with fewer peer problems and less online victimisation for teenagers but neither of these factors correlated with the use of parental control apps said Arup Kumar Ghosh a doctoral student in the University of Central FloridaOur findings suggest that most parentalcontrol apps are those that attempt to control what teenagers can do online but ultimately do little to keep them safe online added Pamela Wisniewski Assistant Professor at the UniversityIn another study the team analysed 736 publicly posted reviews written by teenagers and younger children for parentalcontrol apps available for download on Google PlayThey found that approximately 79 per cent of the reviews written by children rated the apps at either two stars or less out of a possible fiveIt is because the apps were overly restrictive were an invasion of their personal privacy and supported lazy or bad parenting instead of improving communication channels between them and their parentsThe apps also prevented them from doing everyday tasks such as homework assignments and turned their parents into stalkersTeenagers and even younger children told us loudly and clearly that they would rather their parents talk to them than use parental control apps Ghosh saidBy trying to completely shield teens from experiencing any and all online risks some parents are keeping teens from developing the necessary coping mechanisms that they will need throughout their lives the researchers suggestedThe results will be presented at the Association for Computing Machinerys Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in MontrealCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever