Robert Siciliano, an online security expert, discusses a McAfee survey finding that teens hide their online activity. The research revealed incidents of cyberbullying and exposure to pornography among teenagers, with Siciliano offering parenting advice and mentioning McAfee's Safe Eyes monitoring software.
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Alright, uh, cheating, uh, check out porn, cyberbullying. Eye-opening new survey shows a lot of parents don't even know what their kids are really doing online. I do. Uh, plus tips for keeping your teenagers safe. We're gonna tell you about that. Parents are getting a wake-up call today. A new survey shows that teenagers have a whole world online that mom and dad know very little about. That's right. Marketing research firm Tru surveyed more than 2,000 parents and teens about their internet activity. Guess what? 71% of teens admit to hiding some of what they do online from their parents. Eh, I'm really surprised. Nearly a quarter of teens say they have been victims of cyberbullying. Only 10% of parents think that their kids have been targets. Only 12% believe their teens have accessed internet porn. Wake up, mom and dad. In fact, nearly a third say they have seen it. So what can parents do about it? Robert Siciliano is an online security expert at McAfee, the company that commissioned this study by Tru Research. Are, are parents in denial, Robert?
You think?
Yes.
The fact that in 2010, when we did the study, 45% of kids said that they were hiding things, and now we're at 70%. Tells us that parents aren't doing their own due diligence. They're not spending the necessary time with their kids to educate them, and kids are getting deeper into trouble.
Wait, are you telling me their parents are not sitting down and talking to their kids? Is that the deal?
Not like they should. A third of parents are just throwing their arms up in the air and giving up, and that's not effective parenting.
Yeah, but see, I just don't want to have that conversation, Robert.
You know, you have to talk to your kids about sex. The birds and the bees, right? You have to talk to them about drugs. Two? Two? Well, you have to talk to them about drugs, alcohol. You also have to talk to them about safe driving, too. I mean, these are all things of life that we have to deal with. You know, and you would not put a kid in a car and just let them drive without actually, you know, training them, without making sure that before they get behind the wheel, they're okay. And the internet can be like a dangerous neighborhood, and around every corner can be a bad guy.
Robert, give me some advice, okay? Just you and me. Uh, give me some advice. What do I do? I gotta be patient, right? I gotta sit down, I gotta talk to them. I have to be patient about it, right?
Yes, and the good thing is you can actually use technology to walk you through the process to learn about how to educate your kids on how to protect themselves and to protect the family. So McAfee offers Safe Eyes, which is a monitoring software. It takes you through that process. It educates you and it educates the child. And essentially, that's what you want to do, is you want to spend time with them, educate them, educate yourself, because the more you know about technology, the better position you are going to be in to prevent them from getting themselves, and ultimately you, in trouble. Our studies show that over half of white kids are actually hacking.
Robert—
And as a result, they're cyberbullying.
Do you have kids, Robert?
I do, yes. Do you?
How many kids do you have?
Yeah.
I don't want to intrude.
I have two little girls. Two little girls.
Really? And you've had this conversation with them?
Look it, if I could lock my kids in the house until they were 45, I would. But I have to sit down, I have to, you know, talk to them and educate them and monitor them and know what's going on in their online lives. Otherwise, it can get out of control really quick.
You're the guy I want to be. Okay, I have two daughters.
Maybe Robert will come over to your house. Maybe that could be another service.
Could you have the conversation for me, please? 'Cause I don't really wanna do it. Okay, Robert Siciliano, thank you so much for being with us. Good advice, terrific advice.
Thank you so much.
Robert would be great. Have him over to the Jarrett household for a little conversation.
