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30 per cent of American parents let children use Facebook unsupervised: Study
MUMBAI: Do parents in the US trust their children on Facebook?
While a large percentage of adults say they monitor the activity of children in their households on social networking sites such as Facebook, almost one-third (30 per cent) do not, according to findings in the annual study of the impact of the Internet on Americans by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.
The Center for the Digital Future director Jeffrey I. Cole said, “It‘s every parent‘s dilemma to know when to trust their children. In the last five years, we have seen many new issues about parenting and technology evolve that previous generations never encountered. How parents cope with their children using social media like Facebook represents only one aspect of these issues.”
The study, conducted in association with Bovitz found that although 70 per cent of adults said they monitor the activity of the children in their households while on Facebook or other social networking sites, a smaller group (46 per cent) have password access to the children‘s accounts.
The findings also show that of the adults who do not monitor the social networking activity of the children in their households, 40 per cent cite trust as the explanation; either they trust their children or they believe that monitoring online behavior would show lack of trust. Nine per cent of adults don‘t monitor their household‘s children on Facebook because they don‘t know how to use the social networking site, and seven per cent don‘t because “they don‘t have time to do it.”
And in related questions, adults were asked at what age the children in their households should have a mobile phone or Facebook account. They responded the appropriate average is 13 for mobile phones and 15 for a Facebook account.
The responses about parent supervision of children on Facebook are among the more than 180 issues explored in the 2013 Digital Future Project, the longest continuing study of its kind and the first to develop a longitudinal survey of the views and behavior of Internet users and non-users.
Conducted in conjunction with Bovitz, the current study includes new questions that explore negative online attention (bullying, harassment, and unwanted sexual attention), and a closer examination of the “Millennial rift” – the vast differences between how Millennials (age 18-34) and non-Millennials use and perceive online sites and services.
The “Millennial Rift”: Differences between Millennials and non-Millennials in the spectrum of online behavior
The Digital Future Survey found that Millennials, when compared to non-Millennials, have different views about using the internet and report significant differences in many aspects of their behavior online.
Buying online:
Millennials are more involved with mobile shopping and comparison shopping than non-Millennials. 68 per cent of Millennials have done a price comparison on their mobile devices while in a store to find if there is a better deal available online, compared to 43 per cent of non-Millennials.
Twice as many Millennials (23 per cent) as non-Millennials (10 per cent) have purchased products online on their mobile device while in a traditional retail store.
46 per cent of Millennials compared to 24 per cent of non-Millennials have done an online price comparison in a store to find a better deal at another retail store
Millennials as consumers of online media content – Compared to non-Millennials in the study, Millennials spend:
three times as much time watching movies online.
twice as much time listening to online radio.
four times as much time watching television online.
more than twice as much time watching paid online television services such as Hulu Plus.
and almost twice as many watch movies sometimes or often through a fee service such as CinemaNow or Netflix.
Online video content – More than twice as many Millennials as non-Millennials watch online versions of television shows or music videos.
Perceptions of social networking sites – Higher percentages of Millennials (70 per cent) compared to non-Millennials (51 per cent) value social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus as important for maintaining their relationships.
Following and friending companies and brands – Compared to non-Millennials, Millennials follow nine times as many companies and brands on Twitter, and ‘friend‘ more than twice as many companies and brands on social networking sites such as Facebook.
Changing patterns of online purchasing; views about sales tax: The 2013 report explored a variety of new issues involving online buying, including purchasing on mobile devices and the impact of sales tax on Internet buying:
Sales tax and online purchasing – More than half of Internet buyers (52 per cent) said that if their state starts to collect tax for online purchases, they would buy less online, and nine per cent said they would stop buying online altogether. Only 39 per cent said that sales tax charged for online purchases would not change their purchasing.
Browsing and price-comparing in retail stores with a mobile device – The survey found popular use of mobile devices while shoppers browse in traditional retail stores:
49 per cent of Internet purchasers who browse in local retail stores said that they have compared prices on a mobile device while in a store to see if there is a better deal available online.
30 per cent of Internet users overall said that they have used a mobile device while in a store to determine if a better deal was available at another store nearby.
13 per cent of online purchasers who browse locally said they have purchased a product online with a mobile device while in a store. 70 per cent of that group made the purchase from a competing online retailer, and not from the store‘s website.
Bullying, harassment, unwanted sexual attention:problems that cross all age groups: The Digital Future Project explored the darker side of Internet use by asking new questions about online bullying, harassment, and unwanted online sexual attention.
Online bullying and harassment – A small group of respondents (10.4 per cent) said they had been bullied or harassed online. Almost equal proportions of men (10.3 per cent) and women (10.5 per cent) reported being bullied or harassed online.
Online bullying: a problem across all ages groups – Although bullying and harassment of young Internet users has dominated media coverage of this problem, the survey found that measurable percentages of users in all age ranges report that they have been bullied or harassed. The largest of these groups was users under 18 (18 per cent of them reported being bullied or harassed).
Online bullying and harassment (impact) – Sixty-eight percent of those who have been bullied or harassed online report that the impact was minor. However, more than 30 per cent of those who have been bullied or harassed online said the impact was moderate or worse, and 14 per cent said it was serious. That impact was judged moderate or serious by more than twice as many women (21 per cent) as men (10 per cent).
Unwanted sexual attention online – Compared to the percentage of those who have been bullied or harassed online (10 per cent), more than double (21 per cent) said they have received unwanted sexual attention online.
Unwanted sexual attention online: men vs. women – Both men and women receive unwanted sexual attention online; a higher percentage of women (24 per cent) than men (18 per cent) face the problem of receiving unwanted sexual attention online.
Unwanted sexual attention online: by age – While more than one-third of users under 18 reported receiving unwanted sexual attention online, significant percentages of users in all age categories reported it as well.
Cole added, “Negative online attention – including bullying, harassment, and unwanted sexual communication – produces effects ranging from minor nuisances to tragic consequences. While prominent cases in the news focus on how negative online attention affects young users, our study found that these issues affect users of all ages; these issues demand continued exploration.”
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
