The youngest members of Generation Z, born in the early 2010s, might not know what any of those things are.
But today’s youth knows the internet like the back of its collective hand. And with the proliferation of a social media platform like TikTok, whose usership is dominated by children and teenagers, today’s youth is spending more time on the internet than any generation before.
On average, American children spend four hours online every day, according to a recent survey of nearly 3,700 parents across the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. conducted by Mozilla in partnership with YouGov.
Though that figure might pale in comparison to the seven hours parents spend online every day, it is more than double the two hours of mobile media consumption reported by Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010—a number researchers previously believed could not rise any higher.
Cathy Pedrayes, internet safety guru and TikTok’s “mom friend,” told Newsweek that many children are passing time scrolling through entertaining videos, mobile gaming and using a handful of other apps.
Pedrayes also said that, despite another uptick in time spent on the internet, parents are relatively content with the time they chose to introduce their children to internet safety.
In the United States, children are introduced to the internet around the age of 6, according to Mozilla’s survey.
Those same children are usually introduced to online safety, in some capacity, a year later.
However, one in 5 parents in the U.S., along with others in Canada and France, wish they’d introduced their children to online safety sooner, in order to create an open dialogue that lasts through adolescence.
“Parents worry,” Pedrayes told Newsweek. “Not so much about how much time they’re spending online, but more.
“What is it that they’re doing?” she continued. “What are they consuming? Why are they consuming it? How does it make them feel?”
Although certain conversations about online safety can become awkward, especially with older children, keeping open channels for discussion can be the difference between harmless browsing and perilous internet interactions.
And while Mozilla, along with other platforms, have provided useful information for parents regarding digital privacy, the effects of social media use on mental health, cyberbullying and dangers associated with public internet connections, real-life discourse remains the most effective way to keep kids safe online.
“Parents feel at ease that they’re having these conversations,” Pedrayes told Newsweek. “Kids, hopefully … feel at ease that they have an adult that they can trust, and family members that are looking out for them.
“Research has indicated over and over and over again, the importance of having these kinds of open conversations,” she added.
