Teen Filter Use
Use of Internet filters has increased in households with teenagers in them, but not as much as you might expect.
Of course, it’s still an open question how well filters work at blocking kid non-friendly stuff from a PC’s screen, but some filter is better than no filter. More than half (54 percent) of American families with teenagers use an online filter to limit access to potentially harmful content, according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That’s a 65 percent increase from the year 2000.
Who uses filters? The tendency is by parents who themselves are frequent users of the Internet (they know what’s out there) and who have middle-school-age children. Parents with older children and who are less tech-savvy are, as you might expect, less likely to use filters. But no one is really fooled – both teens and parents believe that teens do things on the Internet that their parents would not approve of.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.