The study shows that whilst the majority of parents with online teens between 12 and 17 years of age still believe the Internet is beneficial to their child’s life, there has been an 8 percent decrease from a similar study in 2004. This is in contrast with the rising number of parents who believe that the Internet has a neutral effect on the child’s life, with nearly a third of parents believing that the Internet has no effect one way or the other.

Though its effects remain disputed, internet use grows. In the study, 94 per cent of parents were reported to be online, a similar figure to the percentage of children (93 per cent). This is despite the findings that nearly one-third of parents (32 per cent)  never use the Internet at work: unsurprising since most US workers do not have office jobs. It does reveal two key points. First, the Internet is now also viewed as a recreational tool by many parents, and second, the stereotype of the technophobe parent is often wide of the mark.

Most parents have rules set in place for the amount of time a child is allowed to access the Internet and watch television and there is no significant difference between the two. There is more concern from the parent about the type of content which is viewed by the child rather than the amount of time spent accessing it.

Despite the unregulated the nature of the web, the number of parents that draw a line on which internet sites their child can and cannot access (68 per cent) is markedly lower than the number of parents who have set rules for the type of television shows a child can watch (77 per cent). This is surprising as television has much more formal guidelines in place than the web and therefore has less potentially offensive content.

However, 65 per cent of parents do check on the sites the child has accessed after they have been on the web and almost three quarters are aware of whether or not their child has an profile on social networking sites. This is a reflection of the rise in popularity in sites such as Facebook and MySpace and both parent’s and children’s use of such sites. Parents appear much more understanding of the Internet than they were previously because they are using it themselves more and for similar recreational purposes as their children. This also shows that parents are taking a keener interest in their child’s online lives, having become more aware of the potential dangers of the web.

There are a similar number of gadgets both a parent and their child own, although the type of gadget can vary. As expected, the child is much more likely to own an MP3 player than their parents, with 51 per cent reported to own the device compared to only 29 per cent of parents, while it was found that mobile phones, followed by desktop computers were the most widely owned devices among parents.

Parents who own high-end gadgets, such as PDAs and laptops have a more positive perception of the effect of the Internet on their children than parents who do not. 68 per cent of those who own the gadgets believe that the Internet is ‘a good thing’ for their child in comparison to only 52 per cent of parents who do not own such devices.

The study by Pew, a non-profit organisation that produces reports which explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, education, health care, and political life was conducted in order to examine the relationship between a parent and teenager’s use of the Internet. The study is based on a survey conducted during October and November 2006 and studied the internet use of 935 parents with children between the ages of 12 and 17 and their teen child.