A new report by Kaspersky has disclosed that there is a Digital misunderstanding between parents and children in Nigeria as 55 percent of Nigerian parents have conflicts with their children because they spend too much time on the phone.
The report however noted that it turns out, not all the parents keep up with current trends online and have enough knowledge about the content that their children prefer.
It stated, for instance, modern parents have to constantly educate themselves and keep up to date when it comes to Internet trends. There is a strong reason for it – their children. If parents do not know what is popular on the Net, they can have misunderstandings or even conflicts with their children. It turns out, not all the parents keep up with current trends online and have enough knowledge about content that their children prefer.
According to the recent survey, 27 percent of Nigerian parents do not watch video blogs and are not sure what is popular among modern kids. However, the kids themselves are interested in watching such content, as one-third of children in Nigeria watch video blogs, including those dedicated to games and toys (60 percent), movies (51 percent), music (43 percent) and computer games (32 percent).
It goes on with video games that are one of the most popular pastimes among kids and teenagers – 85 percent of Nigerian children play video games, 20 percent involving in multiplayer ones where they are able to communicate with other people participating there. A child’s digital life can also be the reason for a family conflict, with 55 percent of parents claiming that their child spends too much time on the phone or doing nothing useful (27 percent).
“Being digitally educated and involved in social media activities is a must-do for a parent nowadays as the lack of knowledge in this field can trigger some conflicts in the family. In order to understand your child, to be able to communicate with them and discuss certain modern trends of the evolving world, you have to read more and be present on the Net. It can possibly save the parents a lot of trouble and make their children respect them,” said Andrey Sidenko, Lead web content analyst at Kaspersky.
To successfully maintain a friendly relationship with your children and be aware to which things they dedicate their free time to, Kaspersky recommends following these steps:
- Educate yourself. Read more on the topic of the Internet trends, challenges, video games and new technologies – not only will it better your conversations with children but also keep you informed.
- Communicate with your child, ask them about their digital hobbies and problems, help if it is needed.
- Install a reliable security solution such as Kaspersky Safe Kids to know about the interests of your child in the digital world.