Study reveals parental attitudes to kids media


New research shows that 40% of UK parents have allowed their children to watch movies on TV classified above their age.

The ParentPort survey also revealed that 16% of parents have bought their children a digital device that they do not understand how to operate. However, the parents surveyed did not just give into their children’s appetite for the media – many also closely supervise what their children see and use, the study found.

Over 80% of the parents surveyed claimed they always know what films and television programmes their children watch, and 77% said they always or usually know what websites their children visit.

Over half of parents surveyed thought films and DVDs generally played a positive role in their children’s lives. Forty-nine per cent cited TV as also having a positive effect.

ParentPort was jointly developed by the UK Advertising Standards Authority, the Authority for Television On Demand, the BBC Trust, the British Board of Film Classification, Ofcom, the Press Complaints Commission and the Video Standards Council/Pan-European Game Information.