Texting, Sexting, and Cyberbullying: Qualtrics Releases New Study about Parenting in the Age of Technology

• Findings reveal parents’ top concerns are dating apps, sexting,
  cyberbullying and texting while driving
• Despite risks, parents are four times more likely to say social
  media has had a positive impact on children’s self-esteem than a
  negative one

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Parenting in the age of technology poses unique, sometime dangerous,
challenges. Qualtrics, the
world’s leading enterprise survey platform provider, today announced the
findings of a study analyzing how parents view technology in their
children’s lives and what they are doing to address the risks that come
with the use of technology, specifically smartphones.

The study, which polled 1,039 parents of children ranging from 8 to 17
years old, revealed parents are most concerned with children using
dating apps, though 30 percent of parents say it’s likely children are
using them. In addition, 38 percent of parents believe children are
sexting, with the parents of sons being twice as likely as parents of
daughters to believe their child is sexting.

“As technology becomes more and more pervasive, it’s important to find
measurable ways to assess its impact on our day-to-day lives,” said Mike
Maughan, head of global insights for Qualtrics. “Parents face an
especially daunting challenge as it relates to technology’s impact on
their children. Our hope is these insights will shed new light on how
parents can best protect their children from negative aspects of
technology while leveraging the positives.”

Other concerns include cyberbullying and texting while driving.
According to the findings, 49 percent say it’s likely kids of driving
age are texting while driving. One in 10 parents believe their kids have
been cyberbullied, and 13 percent say children have definitely or
probably cyberbullied someone else.

Additional findings from the survey include:

• 43 percent believe children have accessed inappropriate content online
• 42 percent of parents say it’s likely children have engaged with a
  stranger online
• 56 percent believe their kids will lose or break their cell phones
• When asked what is the right age for a child to own a smartphone, the
  most popular answer was 12 years old

The majority of parents take action to combat these risks with 50
percent using an Internet filter to screen inappropriate content, 73
percent monitoring content their children access on smartphones and 64
percent monitoring the amount of time their children spend on
smartphones.

On the positive side, 96 percent of parents believe a smartphone will
help their child in case of emergency and 75 percent of parents believe
technology has had a positive impact on children’s education.
Interestingly, parents are four times more likely to say social media
has had a positive impact on children’s self-esteem than a negative one.

To view an infographic with details about the study, please
click here.

To view a video will details about the study, please
click here.

Visit this
link to view the full report.

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics is a rapidly growing software-as-a-service company and the
provider of the world’s leading insight platform. More than 8,000
enterprises worldwide, including half of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the
top 100 business schools, rely on Qualtrics technology. Our solutions
make it fast and easy to capture customer, employee, and market insights
in one place. These insights help our clients make informed, data-driven
business decisions. Global enterprises, academic institutions, and
government agencies use Qualtrics to collect, analyze, and act on voice
of the customer, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, 360-degree
reviews, brand, market, product concept, and employee feedback. To learn
more, please visit www.qualtrics.com.

Contacts

Staley White, 801-461-9769
staley@methodcommunications.com
or
Mike
Maughan
mmaughan@qualtrics.com