Kids have always lied to parents. That’s a rule of the universe, like how toast always falls on the buttered side. But a study is now here to prove it: commissioned by Roblox, the MMO and game creation system platform that owes most of its popularity to children, only 26% of teenaged respondents said they’d tell their parents if they had any online issues, such as bullying, while 91% of parents believe their kids would come to them. Of course, this leads to a disconnect between what the parents think they know and what the kids could actually be experiencing online.
The survey gathered the opinions of 3,571 parents from the US who have children ages 7 to 17, as well as 580 teenagers. The disconnect does not end here. The vast majority of parents - 93% of them - believe they’ve had The Talk with their kids. That is, they’ve told them about appropriate online behavior and how to stay safe on the internet. Meanwhile, 60% of teens say they have had a conversation like this “rarely” or “never.” Either the kids are not listening, or the parents have a different idea of what constitutes The Talk.
First reported by GamesIndustry, the survey points out the need for this sort of conversation in the modern day. “What’s clear is that kids growing up around technology today don’t distinguish between how they act or what they say online and in the real world. Digital life IS their real life. It makes no difference to them where they hang out with their friends,” writes Laura Higgins, director of Digital Civility at Roblox, in the official blog post. She later adds, “A proactive conversation—even if no concerns are being voiced—is always best: it gives you an opportunity to prepare kids before they go online and make sure they understand how easy it is for people to say things when they are ‘behind a screen.’”
Fortunately, even though parents are slightly excluded from the narrative - which is arguably most often the case when the kids want to be a bit more independent - a lot of teens seem to consider the online bullying situation under control. 96% of them said they’re likely to help a friend who is being bullied online. The majority of them also said that they get the help they need from other players at least “sometimes.” “Looks like many kids already think that it’s cool to be kind, and that’s the trend we love to see. And for parents—these survey results might serve as a great conversation starter,” Higgins adds.
Online bullying - especially in video games - is very present, but not often reported until it goes far over the edge. In July of this year, a 15-year-old Smash Bros. player Bocchi was pushed into retirement by bullies, for daring to defeat a professional player by using a character considered low-tier.
