How unplugged are parents from their kids’ online habits?

Last week Symantec received a lot of media buzz when they released figures showing “the big disconnect” separating parents and kids when it comes to time spent online. Notable results: “22% of teens check social networking sites more than 10 times a day, while only 4% of parents believe kids are checking that much,” and  “51% of teens check social networking sites more than once a day, while only 23% of parents say their kids check more than once a day.”

It’s interesting that parents underestimate how connected their kids are. But are these media use frequency rates unreasonably high for teens? If Facebook or MySpace is THE communications channel linking you with your friends, is accessing your online profile ten times a day all that different from making ten phone calls, or checking your email a dozen times a day, or your BlackBerry messages (all things parents are perhaps more apt to do)?

It is unlikely that these findings will inspire the technopanic that accompanies studies of teen texting, because an ever higher percentage of Boomers and Gen Xers are also using Facebook and other social media networks, so there a far greater understanding of how these sites facilitate real-time online communication. (For more on the graying of Facebook, go here).

And while we’re on the subject of parents, kids, and digital culture, what are the top words that kids enter into search engines (which might just happen to correspond to their parents’ nightmares)? If you guessed “sex” and “porn” you’d be right. Sexual curiosity plus access to the internet can add up to a triple X education for kids whose parents aren’t plugged in to their online habits. A recent survey by the security folks at Symantec showed that in many households kids are using networks, machines, and connections to access restricted online materials–often by entering a false age. Symantec advises parents who suspect or become aware that their kids are “breaking the rules” (to buy their filtering/monitoring security software and) to treat these infractions as “teachable moments”–when a little honest family dialog can go a long way.

And, parents take heart: the Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on new research from Griffith University which showed that schoolwork is the number one task for most kids when they log on. “The predominant activity that our kids are doing online is educational research and fact-finding, and a lot of it,” said Margee Hume, the lead researcher on the study. “We found that they would always do this before they would do anything else.” Hmmm. I’m betting that finding surprised the researchers too.