May 4, 2009 Back to Article

Summary

How many hours a month do you think your children spend online? How many hours do they really spend? Do kids include you among their online “friends?” Do most kids? Does the Internet improve your love life or relationships? Would you rather give up your car, your cell phone or your Internet access? Find answers to these questions in this article.

The Norton Online Living Report

How do your answers to these questions compare to the answers of adults and children around the world? You can find out all this and much more in the second annual Norton Online Living Report, a survey of 9,000 adults (age 18 and older) and children (8-17) in 12 countries. And the answers may surprise you.

Your Kids Are Doing What? How Often?

Kids spend a lot of time online and text messaging on their cell phones. How much time depends on who you ask. The kids or their parents. Let’s let the numbers tell the story –

• Kids in the U.S. say they spend 42 hours a month online. Their parents think they spend only 18.
• U.S. kids report that that they spend 10 hours a week “texting” compared to four hours a week for kids worldwide.
• 73 percent of parents in the U.S. think they know where there kids are online, 61 percent of their kids agree.
• U.S. kids have an average of 83 online “friends.” That’s more than in any of the other 11 countries surveyed. One in four U.S. kids include their parents on their friends lists.

Education and the Internet

In all the countries surveyed, both adults and kids think of the Internet as an aid to education. But when it comes to writing well, opinions aren’t so high –

• Globally, adults (78 percent), parents (82 percent) and kids (87 percent) say the Internet makes it easier to educate kids on writing well.
• Conversely, 63 percent of adults and 50 percent of kids think that email, texting, and instant messaging (IM) make it harder for kids to learn to write properly.

Friends, Family and Relationships

Making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, staying in touch with our families, even finding love, it all happens online –

• Nearly 60 percent of online adults say they have made at least one new friend online, and three of four of them have gone on to meet the new friend.
• 56 percent of adults say they have reconnected with old friends, and 14 percent have rekindled romantic relationships.
• In families where ties are strong and the families are online (14 percent of the entire online population), more than two-thirds say the Internet improves their family relationships.

Online Security – Are You Doing Enough?

There is an ever greater awareness of Internet security. We’re more aware of the dangers we and our children face. We talk to our children more often. We take security seriously, but maybe not seriously enough –

• 99 percent of adult respondents say they take Internet security seriously.
• But 40 percent of them don’t have Internet security software installed on their computers or run virus scans frequently.
• And one in four don’t think their online information is secure.
• 70 percent of parents talk to their children about online safety (up 20 percent from last year).

How Important Is Your Online Life?

In all but one of the countries surveyed, Internet access ranked among the top three aspects of modern life that people couldn’t live without (Sweden was the lone holdout). Given its great importance to most of us, it would seem to make sense that we do all we can to secure it. Here are three basic suggestions to help you do exactly that –

• Install Internet security software and keep it up-to-date.
• Don’t visit “untrusted” websites.
• Regularly back up everything you value on your PC.
• Talk to your kids about Internet safety and set rules.

Read the Report

The Norton Online Living Report is available online at www.nortononlineliving.com/. Check it out. See how your Internet usage and points of view differ from your peers in, say, Brazil or Japan. You’ll find it fascinating.

Related Links

Product: Norton Internet Security: The fastest virus, spyware and internet protection you can buy
Child and Teen Internet Safety
Internet Safety and Your Teen
The Symantec Guide to Home Internet Security