Kiwi Kids Competing with Mobile Phones for Parents’ Attention
AVG Technologies’ research examines relationship between parents, children and smartphones
AMSTERDAM and AUCKLAND – 25 June 2015 – Mobile phones are gaining an increasing share in the battle for parental
attention, with a third of New Zealand children (32 per cent, surveyed for a recent study, saying their parents spent
equal or less time with them than on their devices. The research, conducted by AVG® Technologies N.V. (NYSE: AVG), the online security company™ for more than 200 million monthly active users, examined children’s
perceptions of their parents’ mobile device use and uncovered some worrying trends. The global study covered 6,117,
including 340 New Zealand adults and 304 children.
Hinting at ongoing digital intrusion upon family life, over 50 percent of the children questioned felt that their
parents checked their devices too often (53 percent); and their biggest grievance, when given a list of possible bad
device habits, was that their parents allowed themselves to be distracted by their device during conversations (40
percent) – something that made more than a third of the complainants feel unimportant (37 percent).
When asked about their device use, half of all parents agreed that it was too frequent (53 percent), and many also
worried about how this looked to the younger generation. A quarter (26 percent) felt that they didn’t set a good example
for their children with their device use.
“With our kids picking up mobile devices at an increasingly younger age, it is really important that we set good habits
within the home early on,” said Michael McKinnon, Security Awareness Director at AVG Technologies. “Children take their
cues from us for everything else, so it is only natural that they should do the same with device use. It can be hard to
step away from your device at home, but with a third of parents telling us that they wished their child used their
device less (32 percent) they need to lead by example and consider how their behaviour might be making their child
feel.”
In a country by country comparison, Brazilian parents topped the survey for device use, with 87 percent of children
stating their parents used mobile devices too much. More worryingly, 59 percent of Brazilian parents admitted to using
the phone while driving – interestingly, 56 percent of children in Brazil also said they would confiscate a parent’s
device, if they could (45 per cent in NZ).
To view our video, please visit our YouTube channel.
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