Parental Awareness on Cyber Threats Using Social Media

Abstract

In recent years, the use of Internet has increased exponentially and most of the users are from adolescents. Internet technology has facilitated cyber threats activities and many of the cases are from adolescents. Users at this age need parental guidance and support because they are still naïve or immature to understand the risks of Internet. Hence, many developed countries have imposed on clear guidelines on the Internet to control and guide the users and understand the risks they will encounter when they are online. The guidance on how to use the Internet or social media begins at home and requires parental involvement to educate the children. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate on the parental knowledge and readiness whether they aware of the risks of Internet to their children. The level of parental awareness can be correlated with cyber safety at home. It is important to identify the awareness as one of the early cyber threat prevention. This study employed survey and questionnaire as the data collection techniques. The sample consisted of 872 parents with children aged 17 and below. A statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. A mixture of descriptive and inferential statistics were used during the analysis method. The finding shows that parental awareness of the cyber threats is at the medium level and still need to be improved to promote cyber safety. Early exposure to parental awareness on cyber threats would aid in opening up knowledge about cyber security among parents.

When you think you know: The effectiveness of restrictive mediation on parental awareness of cyberbullying experiences among children and adolescents

“…The current study's findings suggest that parents may be less likely to underestimate cyber victimization. This may be because of an overall parental awareness that online threats are an increasing issue (Ahmad et al, 2019). Recent research has shown that parents of children and adolescents are beginning to inform themselves about cyber safety and protecting their child, and this might include setting rules, discussing with other parents or attending talks (Ahmad et al, 2019).…”

“…This is related to the fact that today's youth are exposed to technology earlier than their parents were, giving them more time to become experts at using it (Wong, 2010). This gap in skills makes it difficult for parents to teach and guide their child on how to identify threating and reliable information online (e.g., a photoshopped picture; Ahmad et al, 2019;Livingstone & Bober, 2004). Although research has shown that digital media usage increases with age, it is now reported to be accessed by elementary school children (Mascheroni & Cuman, 2014).…”

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“…Privacy is another key challenge. Social media platforms are designed for open communication and sharing, which can inadvertently expose learners' personal information (Ahmad et al, 2019). In an educational context, where privacy and data protection are paramount, educators and institutions need to educate learners about privacy settings, data security, and responsible sharing.…”

Parental Perception of Children’s Online Behaviour: A Study on Ethnic Communities in Australia

“…Parental awareness differs from country to country and depends on the level of knowledge of parents about internet use. For example, a recent Malaysian study found that parental awareness of cyber threats still needs to be improved to promote cyber safety [ 37 ]. In many cases, Malaysian parents were unaware of their children’s unregulated access and exposure to inappropriate online sites, subjecting them to cyber threats.…”